


Defying Chaos.  1-10/10.

by punky_96



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling, The Devil Wears Prada (2006)
Genre: American style Harry Potter Story-verse, Animagus, Crossover, F/F, elements of Harry Potter, non-standard animagus
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-24
Updated: 2018-03-24
Packaged: 2019-04-07 13:59:50
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 10
Words: 21,866
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14082483
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/punky_96/pseuds/punky_96
Summary: Re-Post from LJCrossover with an American style Harry Potter Universe.While spying, Andrea encountered a dangerous woman from the enemy camp.Prompt: xnedrabourne1: Mirandy set in a Harry Potterverse AU with a Romeo and Juliet twist where M/A are (or appear to be) on different sides. What the sides are is open.Beta: Jah728 and Pdt_bear.  You guys rock my world!!!A/N: This fic owes much to many points of inspiration. The two authors that have informed the shaping of this little story ‘verse the most are: winter_156 and SGCbearcub. Seriously. Both are genius.A/N 2: Andrea is more of an Avian shifter than a specific Animagus in HP style. This either was inspired by SGCbearcub’s portrayal of Jareth from Legend, or my brain’s twist of the same portrayal.





	1. One

**Author's Note:**

  * For [xnedrabourne1](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=xnedrabourne1).



_**Defying Chaos. Part 1/10.**_  
  
Stepping out of the town car, Andrea swayed on the heels she was unaccustomed to wearing. The press rabidly snapped pictures of everyone, just in case they turned out to be someone. It was unnerving to know that from this point on her every move could be tracked. The slightest detail drawing attention to her could prove to be problematic in more than one way. Inhaling a deep breath, Andrea focused on walking to the point that all other thoughts were pushed to the back of her mind. It wouldn’t do to dwell on how easily this could blow up in her face. Dressed up, briefed on what might work in her favor, and willing to pretend dissatisfaction with her family—Andrea needed to focus on the party.  
  
Nick Hasgo had become an international headliner though he loved returning home to New York where he could bask in the frenzy that hometown glory had become for him. On the surface, tonight’s event was a rock and roll party for the release of a new album. It had nothing to do with the murmurs of a scandal in Wizarding London, where Nick may or may not have participated in a party filled not only with sex, drugs, and rock-n-roll, but also with Imperious, Cruciatus, and a wide variety of bondage spells. Back in New York for the release of his album, Nick had kept quiet for the last couple of weeks. Now under the bright lights of the press and the lure of new music, he was returning to public view. Under the shiny veneer of this release party, the various financial backers and elite hangers on in attendance, held a certain darkness that was known to accompany those dabbling in the darker arts.  
  
Slipping through the house to the backyard, Andrea sighed out her relief. Nick had just taken to the stage in order to perform some songs from the new album. With the crowd’s focus on the singer, the brunette could wander around and catalog as many faces as possible while slipping into a position angled for eavesdropping.  
  
On stage a song ended and Nick began talking. Andrea didn’t bother tuning into his words. They would probably be quoted verbatim in the paper the next day. Two gentlemen arguing nearby had her full attention as she tried to slip closer. She thought the taller fellow with the long black hair and square jaw was James Ferguson—a well-known venture capitalist. As she drew closer to them, she heard him assert, “They won’t know what hit them.” Andrea’s eyes widened at the possibilities this statement held.  
  
“I tell you it is too soon.” The shorter man with brown and bleached blonde spikes quickly replied.  
  
Andrea bit back a yelp as her arm was grabbed and she was bodily yanked backwards into an odd passageway in the garden. It was dark and she couldn’t see who had accosted her. She was off balance in her heels and too slow to reach for her wand. Her heart pounded in a way that easily overtook the pain of the initial pinch to her elbow.  
  
“What do you think you are doing?” A tall woman with ethereal white hair glared at Andrea. She waved her wand and muttered as she glanced around them. “You have thirty seconds.” The woman kept her wand on her as she rested the other hand on her hip.  
  
Knowing she couldn’t have been caught out this early, Andrea opened and closed her mouth as her brain tried to come up with her rehearsed plausible explanation. “I’m searching for Nate Cooper.” She forced eyes to hold contact with the blue eyes still pinning her into place.  
  
The woman glanced at the two men the younger woman had been slinking closer and closer to. The younger woman had clearly been searching for something, but she didn’t think it was with James or Akubo. Glancing back toward the crowd, her blue eyes widened as she saw a scruffy haired younger man with his date. Narrowing her eyes at Andrea, she gasped as she recognized the younger couple from a gossip article in the last month. “You should leave.” Perhaps the young woman spoke the truth, but trying to find your ex-boyfriend at a high profile party would never end well.  
  
Andrea wondered about her reluctant companion. She had noticed Andrea behaving in a suspicious manner, even when everyone else at the party was focused on the headliner. Then when Andrea had used her cover excuse for going to the party, the white haired woman had put the faces together enough to know that it was a poor idea. “I need to see for myself.” She waved at the couple in the center of the group. “Please.” She slipped a slight tremor of pleading into her tone as if she needed to see for herself that her former best friend and boyfriend were indeed googley eyed over each other.  
  
 _Don’t let them control you! Don’t let the Ministry wash your brain!_  The rock lyrics broke the strange bubble of conversation they were in on the outskirts of the garden.  
  
The white haired woman rolled her eyes. “Unbelievable.” Glancing at the scruffy haired young man and then back at the alluring brunette, she whispered, “He’s not worth your time.” Then she took three quick steps and disappeared through the opening in the bushes and into the crowd.  
  
Andrea stood dumbfounded for many minutes. She had been nearly caught and then complimented. At least she thought that was what the older woman’s gaze and quiet words indicated when taken together.  
  
*** *** ***  
  
Miranda tucked her wand back into the holster on her arm. She absently played with the pendant on her chest as she crossed the crowd to her daughters. She hoped that the stupid girl would get whatever she came for and leave. If she was really there to confront that ex-boyfriend of hers from the papers, then she fervently wished that they did it on the outskirts of the party and well after Nick’s set. If someone interrupted his spotlight time, then there would be hell to pay—even if Nick had to play by the Ministry’s rules at this party. Miranda refused to let herself think of what else the young woman might have really been trying to do. As far as she knew the young woman was not aligned with the Minutemen. Biting her lip, Miranda hugged her daughters slightly tighter than she normally would.  
  
Her fragile peace with Nick would be shattered if anyone had seen the two of them talking and the young woman turned out to be more complicated than first glance had revealed. Pinching the bridge of her nose, Miranda wondered why she hadn’t simply pointed out the brunette to security in the first place. She had not needed to pull her aside for a confrontation. It was unnecessary and she could not fathom why she had taken the risk.  
  
“Mom,” Cassidy called out to her over the cheering crowd as Nick placed the microphone back on the stand. “Daddy’s new songs are amazing.”  
  
Smiling at her daughter, Miranda hoped it didn’t appear forced. She tried to be honest with her daughters, but she had always tried to keep the darkness in her former husband away from them. So far he had seemed content to cultivate his rock star image with them instead of sharing his true self. She knew it would hurt them when the truth was revealed, but she needed them to get to know him on their own terms. She never wanted to be the person that poisoned them against their father. “He’s truly an artist.” She hummed back her response.  
  
“Smash the tree!” Caroline practically shouted, before she saw her mom’s face. “Get it, mom? The tree is the t-r-y from the MinisTRY. Smash the government. Oh. It’s so cool.”  
  
*** *** ***  
  
“What have we here?” James Ferguson advanced forward into Andrea as she backed away. The young woman had been in his peripheral vision off and on throughout the party. Clearly she wasn’t considering approaching him or his companion, Akubo Daniels. Otherwise at this point, she would be caught out and shy, instead of backing away with tears filling her eyes in fear.  
  
Akubo took up a position slightly to Andrea’s side, so that she shifted her body to face in between them as she continued to back away from them. “She’s familiar. Maybe you’ve had her before?”  
  
The leering exchange between the two men sickened Andrea. She swallowed hard and fumbled for words. “I just want him.” She cried out as she waved toward the man at the bar behind them. “Nate.” She hitched her breath and craned her neck to try to see around her current pursuers.  
  
“He seems to want her.” Akubo teased as his eyes shifted to the couple at the bar and then back at her. “Don’t let that depress you. A tempting little minx such as you won’t be lonely for long. Will she?” He turned to his colleague.  
  
“She wants him and he wants that one. What a tragedy.” James mock sympathized, before smiling wide. His next step took him chest to chest with Andrea against the wall. “For an exciting ending, how about I want you.” He peered into her tear filled brown eyes with his glassy black ones and smirked.  
  
Akubo clapped his hands together. “Oh yes. That’s what I want for both of you, my friend.”  
  
How anyone’s heels could be heard over the din of the party was a mystery. However, both men stood a bit straighter as the steps approached them. James even backed away from Andrea a half step as he rocked onto his back foot. “Andrea, I told you he wouldn’t measure up.” The older woman with the white hair stood behind the two men. Miraculous as it was they were the ones who now seemed to be the ones under threat, even though the woman did not even acknowledge their presence. “Here’s your drink.” Reaching in between the two men, slender fingers held out a short glass filled with two ice cubes and a splash of amber liquid.  
  
Trembling, Andrea raised both hands up to accept the drink.  
  
Instead of handing her the glass, Miranda grabbed her by the wrist and yanked her forward. “I don’t have all day.” She growled as she turned and pulled the younger woman with her. Once they were past the two men, she practically threw the glass at Andrea.  
  
*** *** ***  
  
Halfway through the house, Andrea downed the liquid in the glass. She set it on the nearest piece of furniture that had a flat surface. The other woman had not spoken or otherwise interacted with her beyond continuing to drag her through the house toward the front door.  
  
“How did you know my name?” Andrea asked as she recognized the entry hall and knew she was running out of time.  
  
Coming to a sudden stop, the white haired lady fixed her with a deadly glare. “Nathaniel Cooper bedding his girlfriend’s best friend is news to some people.” Her dismissive tone explained just what the woman thought of this tale of woe—not much.  
  
“I haven’t even been in the country.” Andrea sputtered after having her personal life so carelessly thrown in her face. It wasn’t the point, and she should just be glad it was what the other woman had focused on. Yet, she couldn’t let it go so easily.  
  
Pacing two steps to the side, Miranda pretended to consider this fact. Sympathy did not enter the conversation when she opened her mouth again. “If Ferguson recognized Zacharias Sachs’ daughter returned from France, he would have done more than threaten to rape you, girl.” When Andrea’s jaw dropped open, the white haired woman pointed toward the door. “Get out before I call him for you.”

 

x


	2. Two

_**Defying Chaos. Part 2/10.**_  
  
Andrea didn’t even wait for the car to retrieve her. She ran from the house, down the long front pathway, and out further into the street until she was swallowed by the dark night. Apparating breathlessly, she landed in a heap on the hard wood floor of Benny Galvez’ kitchen.  
  
Rushing into the room with his wand drawn, Benny grunted and then rushed to her. “Andrea? What happened? Were you caught?” He helped her up and then examined her taller frame over for damage or other signs of distress.  
  
Patting him on the shoulder, Andrea smiled at the older man. The chair slid against the floorboards as she pulled it away from the table. “I need to see at the photos.” She dazedly informed him.  
  
Summoning the notebook, Benny joined Andrea at the table. Something had happened, but she didn’t seem to be in crisis. He considered casting a diagnostic charm, but he didn’t want to break her fragile focus. She might have stumbled onto the break they needed to understand the recent attacks at Ministry events, anonymous propaganda whipping the public into an anti-government frenzy, and several recent murders that seemed to be connected by more than circumstance.  
  
“He was there.” Andrea pointed out from time to time as she flipped through the book. Occasionally she added a detail, “He was talking to her.” She didn’t generally say the names, but she would flip back to photographs and make the connection by tapping on the image with the tip of her wand to assign the connection. “She was drinking a gin and tonic.” Sometimes the details were random, but they seemed to be settling her as she continued to make her way through the notebook and the story of the party.  
  
Benny waited and watched patiently. He and Zacharias Sachs had been friends for decades. It had pained him to ask his daughter to go into the suspected lion’s den, but he knew that her unique position would allow her access that the known members of the Minutemen could never hope to achieve. Andrea closed the book only to immediately flip it over and rush through it again. “What is it, Andrea?” He asked as she became more and more frantic searching the book.  
  
“There was a taller woman with white hair and blue eyes. Cold.” Andrea shook her head as she recalled meeting the other woman. “She grabbed me early in the party. I thought I was blown.” Andrea’s eyes searched the layout she was on, though there were no females on the open pages at all. “Later she saved me from James Ferguson and this man.” She pointed down to the brown and blonde spiky haired, Akubo Daniels. “She called me by name, knew I had been in France after the debacle with Nate, and that I was Zacharias’ daughter.” She stared into Benny’s light brown eyes, needing him to know who this woman was and how her actions and words should be interpreted.  
  
“Could be Hasgo’s wife or ex-wife.” Benny shrugged. “She’s something of a mythical creature. No one knows much about her. Hasgo’s people do not speak of her, whether that is through a fear of him or of her, we are not certain.” Benny scrunched his face up as he thought about the woman of the stories. “Since she’s a bit of a ghost, we’ve never spent much time on her. I suppose we could try to dig up more about her, if you want.” Benny frowned at this train of thought. He didn’t want to divert resources on a useless chase for a woman so far out of the spotlight that she wasn’t even a consideration in most people’s reckoning. “Is she the only person at the party that you can’t account for?”  
  
Andrea reviewed the evening in her head. “There was a pair of twin red head teenagers during Nick’s final set, but then they were gone after that.”  
  
Connecting so many people to each other and Nick Hasgo made the trip invaluable in Benny’s eyes. He hoped that Andrea could remain focused and steer clear of James Ferguson in the future. She could become a real asset to the Minutemen, if she would train and maximize her natural talents. Nothing in the snippets of dialogue or other observations brought them any closer to uncovering the identity of the mysterious M.O.C. that served as a tag at all of the recent uprisings, including the murder scene of Zacharias Sachs. Benny wasn’t sure if he should have kept that detail from Andrea or not, but he wanted her to discover the truth on her own instead of just searching for clues that would fit the letters they didn’t even understand. It was difficult to say what the right path was when they were facing an amorphous enemy that didn’t even register to the Ministry’s vision. Nor did it help that the Minutemen kept themselves apart from the Ministry, which kept their numbers low and weakened their ability to be effective.  
  
*** *** ***  
  
Andrea groaned as she stretched and made her way to the kitchen. After many long nights of searching through records and old Wizarding papers, Benny had broken the news to her that the Minutemen would no longer be supporting their search for the white haired woman and the teenagers. It had been frustrating, but Andrea knew that they had more solid leads to follow. The previous evening, those still willing to search for the mystery woman had been called away when there was an attack at the annual awards banquet. The scene had made the papers the next day as it ended in flames and panic.  
  
Needing to get away, Andrea had returned to her fourth floor walk-up apartment in the Bronx. She wondered why she was so fixated on the woman with white hair. It didn’t make sense. She should be worried about running into James Ferguson or perhaps she should be planning to run into him. Or she should be trying to help connect the murder of her father to the others where the mysterious M.O.C. clues had been left. If she could find that connection, perhaps she’d help to put Ferguson away, so that she could truly leave this city behind. “I came back to get him.” Andrea muttered to herself as she readied the Muggle coffee maker. “So why can’t I stop thinking about her?”  
  
Andrea slipped two slices of sourdough into the toaster and pulled out the fixings she would need for the rest of her breakfast. She poured a cup of coffee and abandoned it on the table to retrieve the toast. Checking over her table, Andrea nodded. She had just about everything she needed.  
  
Crossing her apartment, Andrea listened at the door before opening it and scooping up the Muggle newspaper.  
  
Flopping into her chair, the brunette trailed her fingers along the newsprint. “I miss you dad.” She murmured to the newspaper. The Mirror hadn’t been his paper, but she associated it with him anyway. He had always been so fond of the print business and willing to share it with her.  
  
Focusing on her coffee, Andrea tested it against her lip for heat and then set it back down. She opened the jam and began to spread the strawberry preserves over her toast. For several minutes, Andrea absently scratched her shoulder and munched on her toast letting her mind wander. The cooler coffee now contrasted with the sweet of the strawberry and she savored the feeling of its warmth spreading out through her being as she slowly became fully alert. Preparing her second slice of toast, Andrea absently held it in her mouth as she flipped open the newspaper.  
  
As her eyes took in the image on the front of the unrolled print, Andrea bit down on the toast. Several events happened at once as the rest of the slice fell and landed with a smear on the bottom of the paper. The young woman sucked in a breath and nearly choked herself, and then she jumped up from the table in a panic. As the chair fell over, her throat closed around the bread and sticky jam, while her mind exploded with information, theory, and the alarming thought that she couldn’t breathe.  
  
Tripping over the chair, Andrea instinctively hopped away from it and landed with her hip against the counter. The pain jolted her into action as hit her fist hard in the center of her chest. Gagging, Andrea brought both palms up to her mouth to catch and instinctively turned toward the sink in case she needed it.  
  
When she could breathe again and her heartbeats were separated back into individual moments, Andrea turned and slid down the cabinets to sit on the floor. The paper and slice of forgotten toast rested against the table leg. Andrea kicked the chair out of the way and read the headline once again.  
  
 _Elias-Clark CEO Ousted by the Dragon Lady._  
  
Below the headline was a photograph of a short man with dark eyes and the white haired woman Andrea had met at the Hasgo party. They were the only two figures in focus, so the man had to be the CEO and the woman had to be the Dragon Lady referred to in the headlines. Andrea swallowed and thought that the title seemed fitting. As cold as the woman was, she had no doubt that she could breathe fire if she wanted to. Summoning the paper to her, Andrea banished the slice of toast and cleaned the jam smear with a wave of her hand.  
  
 _The animosity between Irving Ravitz and Miranda Priestly has been almost as legendary as the Runway Editor’s demand for perfection within the pages of her magazine. Yesterday in a late meeting, the board accepted Mr. Ravitz’s resignation, which would end the stalemate between the two figures at Elias-Clark. As with any human resources related decision the details are shrouded in confidentiality. It cannot be denied that with the recent addition of two fashion supportive board members life within Elias-Clark had been trending up for Miranda Priestly. It can also not be denied that the dragon even had a crafty smile for the members of the press willing to risk her ire this morning. For more details on the history of this conflict and an analysis of the public decisions of both Ravitz and Priestly, turn to page 4._  
  
Andrea turned to page 4 and then pages 7 and 11 as she devoured information about the mysterious woman with the white hair and her corporate nemesis. Then she jumped up from the floor and rushed to her laptop. She had more questions than ever about the woman named Miranda Priestly living in Manhattan and working as the editor of a Muggle fashion magazine called Runway.

 

x


	3. Three

_**Defying Chaos. Part 3/10.**_  
  
In retrospect, going to the twins’ school had been foolish in the extreme. At the time however, Andrea felt driven by a mad desire to understand the prickly woman who had saved her, while threatening her. The backstory that Andrea could uncover had the woman coming to New York from London in her early twenties. Photos of the time showed a somewhat timeless woman. Younger than her present appearance, but with Wizarding aging what it was, Andrea knew that the woman probably was not the age given by the official documents she had been able to charm her way into contact with.  
  
Propped on a retaining wall across from the school, Andrea hoped to catch a glimpse of the twins and perhaps even another sighting of their mother. Beyond seeing them, no plan existed. Andrea simply wanted to confirm that she really had uncovered the woman’s identity.  
  
A black town car drove by the school slowly amidst dozens of other cars. It was nearly time for the school to release its students. Andrea waited with steadily increasing anticipation.  
  
Rounding the block, the town car Andrea hadn’t even noticed pulled up in front of her. The driver hopped out from his spot and before Andrea could even register his course, he had cast a compulsion charm over her. When he beckoned her into the back door of the luxury car, she hesitated for a fraction of a second and then smiled at him as she slipped by him and into the back seat.  
  
“Have the twins stay in the front office. The car has a flat. Another car will pick them up.” The previously unseen woman already in the car ended her phone call and dropped the phone in her bag.  
  
Andrea shook her head as the car pulled into traffic, the doors locked with a click, she recognized the other woman with her, and the compulsion charm was released. Andrea’s eyes widened and she opened her mouth to speak, but no words came out.  
  
The blue eyes staring at the younger brunette woman could have melted glaciers. “Explain yourself.”  
  
Wondering if she were under a tongue tying jinx, Andrea’s brain filled with questions and reasons: why did you help me, but scare the hell out of me, are you really Nick Hasgo’s wife, or ex-wife, is he part of this group that’s terrorizing the ministry and half-Wizards, are you with him… After a terrifying set of seconds, where Andrea thought that the other woman really would hex her and she began to panic about the state of her neurons, she blurted out, “Are you part Veela?”  
  
Blinking her eyes more than once, the older woman tilted her head in curiosity. This younger woman really was a strange bird. With her following the girls or perhaps her own person, there was no way she could accept her story from the party. However, her behavior, nervous ticks, and bizarre way of explaining had Miranda curious. “You call that an explanation?” She kept her tone low, so that the girl had to watch her lips in order to follow her words. The way she bit her lower lip in concentration sent a tiny thrill through Miranda. The depth in her eyes made Miranda wonder what else was hidden within her.  
  
Pressing herself back against the car door in fright, Andrea stammered. “I couldn’t figure out who you were, but I was so drawn to find you.” She hoped that this connected her entirely inappropriate question enough for the older woman. When Miranda merely shifted her hair with her fingertips and then crossed her arms over her chest, Andrea knew she needed to add another detail, no matter how personally mortifying. It would protect her other secret of part-time spy, if she could use her stalker tendency in the right way. “I wondered if the pull I felt toward you, had to do with some unknown Veela ancestry.”  
  
Squeezing the muscles around her rib cage, Miranda fought the chuckle that wanted to bubble up from her lungs. She could not remember being truly amused by anyone except for the twins in a very long time. “I should Obliviate you entirely.” Miranda offered neither answer, nor absolution. When the younger woman thought to protest, she sighed and added, “I could Obliviate Mr. Cooper from your mind as well.”  
  
Sickened at the threat, Andrea exclaimed, “You would never!”  
  
Miranda let the girl’s claim hang in the air for far longer than necessary. Then she uncrossed her arms and leaned closer to the brunette. “Stupid girl, I would do it in a heart beat. To protect my girls and myself? There is nothing I wouldn’t do.”  
  
Realizing her mistake in coming to the school far too late, Andrea wanted to assure the other woman that she meant no harm to her or the girls. Just as the words were on the tip of her tongue, the brunette stopped. Miranda had gone to great lengths to live in the Muggle world and find a strange hidden anonymity there even in celebrity. Her girls were as known as she was and should harm come to them, there would be a crazy amount of cover up needed. Within the Wizarding world they were ghosts, only known as mythical creatures associated with an eccentric musician who seemed to have anarchist tendencies.  
  
“Am I clear?” Miranda ground out as she stared into the deep wells of Andrea’s eyes.  
  
Jerking her head forward in affirmation, Andrea answered, “Yes, Ms. Priestly.”  
  
Unable to stop her corrective comment, Miranda murmured, “Miranda.” Then she tapped the glass for her driver to pull over.  
  
Andrea nearly fell out of the car, when the man opened the door to let her out on a random street in Manhattan.  
  
At least, Andrea hoped it was in Manhattan.  
  
*** *** ***  
  
Getting her bearings, Andrea sighed. There were worse places to be dropped off after being caught in a rather stalker-ish position. If it wouldn’t just prove the point, Andrea would find Miranda and apologize. Shaking her head, Andrea replayed the conversation from start to finish in her mind as she trudged back toward more familiar streets. Apparition or even the subway would have been quicker, but the brunette felt the need to over analyze for a while. If she was going to really work for the Minutemen, then she needed to learn from her mistakes and up her game.  
  
“I can’t believe I asked her that.” Andrea muttered to herself as she thought of the question that had fallen out of her mouth. “Veela.” It did explain away Andrea’s obsession with the silver haired witch, but it was just plain stupid to ask someone that—especially someone who would just as soon Obliviate or Hex you than have a philosophical discussion about the implications of a Veela Mesmer between them.  
  
Thoroughly mortified with her thoughts, Andrea shook herself out of her train of thought and made her way to the nearest subway station. It was nearly dinnertime, surely Benny would be glad to have company.  
  
*** *** ***  
  
The front door opened at her knock and Andrea cautiously stepped through. “Benny?” Pulling her wand from her sleeve, Andrea hesitantly made her way through the house to the kitchen. “What are you doing?” She nearly dropped her wand as she watched him bustle about waving photos to the walls and wandlessly sticking them.  
  
Threads were forming as he continued to murmur low words. Her father’s friend did not spare her more than a grunt in acknowledgement. Words scrolled on the walls connecting the pictures and creating an overwhelming wall of knowledge that Andrea had only seen on television and in her advanced arithmancy courses.  
  
 _Merchants of Chaos. M. O. C._  
  
The title and initials hovered over the steadily growing swathe of information. Pulling out a chair, Andrea watched in awe as Benny continued to direct the flow of data and connections. She was pleased to note that many of her observations had made it to the wall. Somehow it made the ordeal at the party seem worthwhile.  
  
A large gap below the title indicated that the knowledge still lacked vital details. Taking in the wall with an eye for detail, Andrea tilted her head this way and that wondering what was still needed. She made her way over to Benny and then began to tentatively wave her wand into the empty space. Questions appeared in hovering lettering with a green hue to indicate that they were from a different source and needed answers or fine-tuning.  
  
 _Is there a leader?  
What do they want?  
Do they have a base?  
How organized would chaos be?_  
  
Andrea crossed her arms over her chest and pondered the candidates that appeared to have some kind of connection to these Merchants of Chaos.  
  
 _Self-aggrandizing fop._  
  
Benny at last acknowledged her presence in the room with a flippant answer hovering near her questions in a reddish hue. Andrea wondered if she should just spell her questions to the wall, if he wasn’t going to speak with her.  
  
 _There was mention of a leader.  
No base, too easy to trace.  
Tactics so far indicate disruption and other low level tactics.  
No need for a base._  
  
Scowling at this, Andrea considered her questions and the man who had returned to flinging information confetti. Her feet hurt and she had worked up an appetite walking until she couldn’t think anymore and had jumped onto the subway. With a shake of her head, Andrea slipped her wand back into her sleeve. She’d make an easy dinner and then drag him away from his mad scribbling.  
  
*** *** ***  
  
Benny’s eyes itched. He had been pouring over the information ever since he emerged from the morning debrief. He vaguely knew that the day must have ended when Andrea arrived, but it was only in the dim recesses of his mind. They were just too close to understanding the group that had been plaguing them for the last several years. He wasn’t about to stop for something as trivial as eye-strain or aching legs. Stacey and Zacharias had been victims of this mysterious M.O.C. and he would not rest until justice had been served and peace was restored.  
  
Sighing he wiped his fingers over his face and rubbed at his eyes. He would be the first to acknowledge that the Ministry had faults. However, he knew from the previous wars, those near and far, and history in general—a faction that sought only to undermine the present power, rarely ever created positive change.  
  
 _Eat._  
  
The three-letter word was spelled in floating purple ink in front of the entire wall. Benny shook his head and began to lift his wand to dispel it. The letters shifted and morphed into a promise.  
  
 _I will hex you._  
  
When he grunted at this and raised his wand the words moved once again.  
  
 _What happened?_  
  
The purple smoked billowed and then highlighted the new information in shimmers before it dissipated.  
  
Recognizing the work of a witch still at full energy, Benny breathed deeply. He did not feel up to the challenge of taking his old friend’s famously stubborn daughter to task in a battle of wills at this point. He was tired—his heart, mind, and the soles of his feet were all crying out at the long hours and years of endless searching.  
  
“Andrea.” He called her name as he turned to face her.  
  
She returned with a sing-song, “Benny.”  
  
They tucked into their meal in companionable silence. When the plates had been banished to the sink and they were each restored for the time, they returned to the living room and the new vault of information. “Last night the Minister was attacked at the Heads of Six Convention.” When his companion remained silent, Benny continued. “He is in the hospital in the spell damage ward. His recovery is uncertain. Jackson and Marie did not survive the recovery of their injuries. James Ferguson was killed on the scene and Akubo Daniels apprehended while escaping.” He waved his hand to magically magnify photos on the wall. “These three have not been identified as of yet, but their images were captured via memory capture.”  
  
Andrea stepped closer to the wall. She knew the man’s face, but could not picture where she had seen it before. She resisted the urge to draw death caricature features over the face of James Ferguson. “Did Akubo talk?”  
  
With a quick flick of his wand, Benny pulled a line of information out from the wall.  
  
“The Merchants of Chaos decry the Ministry and answer only to the King.” Andrea read the text aloud. Turning to face Benny, she queried, “That’s all?”  
  
Benny rolled his eyes. “Come on. I’ll show you.” He turned and made his way down the hall into the house.  
  
Wrinkling her nose up at the thought of viewing a memory in a Pensieve, Andrea followed him.

 

x


	4. Four

_**Defying Chaos. Part 4/10.**_  
  
As comforting as it was to think that her father’s killer had lost his life in the attack, Andrea somehow felt cheated. Choosing to help Benny with the Minutemen had not been an easy decision. In the end the turning point for her was that the investigation into her father’s death would continue in conjunction with other M.O.C. related cases. She had wanted the elitist bastard to stand trial and be publicly judged for his crimes. For Ferguson to be killed in a skirmish, Andrea felt robbed of her day in court.  
  
Tossing and turning, Andrea tried to force herself to meander over other more pleasant topics. Each time her mind snapped back to the new evidence blending in with the old on Benny’s wall, creating more complete picture.  
  
“Irving Ravitz.” Andrea bolted upright in bed. Her heart was beating wildly and she could hardly breathe. If Irving Ravitz was a Merchant of Chaos, then Miranda could be caught up in a feud within the faction. Her discord with the other man was common knowledge in the Muggle world. With a jolt she realized the man was as well-known in the Muggle world as Miranda, and equally a ghost in the Wizarding one.  
  
*** *** ***  
  
Miranda stood by the glass balcony door. Sleep had proved elusive. The attack had been a categorical failure. The M.O.C. had become blinded by their minor successes based more on luck than skill. Not for the first time she wondered if she had taken enough precautions to safeguard her girls. As much as she wanted them to know their father, it would have been the kinder cruelty to have disappeared with them instead of living this strange half-life.  
  
Her ex-husband had always been able to keep her pinned down in one way or another.  
  
She hated herself for not being able to see him for what he was earlier. The feeling had only multiplied over the years as she watched her children come to love him and subsequently further bind her to him.  
  
Brown eyes full of wonder appeared in her mind and she questioned whether she had ever been so innocent. The younger woman from the musical release party seemed to represent the life Miranda could have had if only she had made other choices, or not fallen for Nick’s charms. She hoped she would never see the girl again.  
  
“Andrea Sachs.” Miranda murmured with her breath fogging the windowpane. “Stay away, Andrea Sachs.” Hearing a noise on the street below, the silver haired woman drew her wand. “Who’s there?” She cast out a silent revealing spell, which indicated that someone was outside below her window.  
  
“It’s me.” The quiet words barely returned to her through the window.  
  
Vanishing the glass, Miranda stepped through the frame onto the balcony. “Andrea?”  
  
Stepping out into the streetlight, the brunette gazed upward. “Miranda?”  
  
Just as she was about to question the younger woman’s presence she heard one of her girls cry out in their sleep. “Andrea.” The redundant word slipped from her lips as she took in the slightly disheveled appearance of her beautiful young stalker.  
  
“Yes. Unfortunately.” Andrea held her hands out to her sides in a peaceful gesture.  
  
Down the hall, Miranda heard another whimper from deeply troubled sleep. Twisting around, Miranda listened to ascertain the wakefulness of her children, before returning her attention to the brunette. “Why unfortunate?”  
  
Indicating Miranda, the brunette then held her fist over her heart. “Because you wish me to stay away.”  
  
Knowing that a lie was sometimes in the person’s best interest, Miranda agreed, “Yes, I do.”  
  
Andrea climbed up the metal fence that lined the edge of the townhouse property and balanced on the top of it. “Are you in danger?” She whispered just loud enough to carry the words, but quiet enough to not wake the neighbors.  
  
“Mommy?” The quiet pull of her daughter’s voice drew Miranda’s focus away from the woman on her fence.  
  
Stepping into her room, Miranda called out, “Coming, darling.” Returning to the woman she did not understand, Miranda took in her appearance once again. She could not help the draw of her eyes over the luscious curves, or the pull of those brown eyes on her own. Perhaps Andrea was the one who was part Veela. “They will kill you if they find you.”  
  
Andrea wasn’t sure what part of her dared, but she called back, “You could call them with a word.”  
  
Footsteps in the hallway approached Miranda’s room. Wishing she didn’t have to worry, she stepped back into her room to check the door. Knowing she had precious seconds, the silver haired woman returned to the balcony and offered. “Perhaps you should be fed to the wolves.”  
  
Andrea knew her time was running out. “Or to the models?” She teased back to the magazine editor.  
  
“Leave, Andrea.” Miranda turned as she uttered the words. She tried to inject a repulsion charm into the words, but knew her heart wasn’t in it even as she waved the glass back into the door and went to greet her daughter.  
  
*** *** ***  
  
Stumbling from the Floo in Benny’s kitchen, Andrea caught herself on the back of one of the kitchen chairs. If his urgent message hadn’t been alarming enough, then the fact that it burst into a cold flame in her palm after reading it caught her attention. “Benny?” She called out as she drew her wand. As she searched for the older man, she wondered how her life had become such a tangled mess. Her worry grew as she searched the downstairs and came up empty. However, upon catching sight of him in the guest room, she found that she’d rather have not found the man at all. Crossing her arms over her chest, Andrea scowled at the older man holding up a dress. “Your cross dressing secret was not worth the urgent message and cold combustion charm. I am surprised you didn’t shave the beard.” Andrea leaned against the doorframe knowing she had better use all of her sarcastic comments while she had a chance. The last time she had seen such a fancy dress she had come face to face with her father’s killer. “Bold decision. I admire your individuality.” She made sure to keep her tone as dry as possible as she let the words slowly fall from her lips.  
  
Facing his wayward young friend, Benny planted his fist on his right hip and pretended to fluff his hair with his left hand. “The empire waist does nothing for my figure.” With a swish of his wand, he sent the dress to hang in the open closet.  
  
Andrea fought her amusement valiantly. She wanted to be mad at Benny for his alarming message and equally distressing prospect of fancy fashion wearing. It brought to mind Miranda and all of her questions about the prickly cold woman, while at the same time making her blood run cold with the certain knowledge that she was wrapped up part and parcel with the same group that killed her father. In the end she smiled weakly as Benny sat on the guest bed and patted the space next to him.  
  
“Come, Andrea. Sit down.” Benny felt his heart twinge as he watched the various emotions flitter across the younger woman’s face. She had told him about Elias-Clark’s dethroned CEO, Irving Ravitz, but she had been mum about her source information. He could discern that for everything she had told him after the Hasgo CD Release party, that she still withheld some vital piece of information. He wondered if it had to do with the mysterious woman that the brunette met that night. He didn’t want to doubt her, but he kept going over it in his mind. In the last war spouses were divided, loyal employees turned, and many died because they could not see the darkness in front of their faces. It was why the Minutemen never fully stood down. They never wanted to become complacent in the superficial peace that could rot the Ministry from within.  
  
“First a dress and now that tone.” Andrea waved at the finery as she approached him. “I am sure that I don’t want to know.”  
  
Wishing he had been in the kitchen when she arrived, Benny fussed with his tie for a few seconds. She stood in front of him and he didn’t want to face her for his next words. Sighing, his eyes darted around the room and tried to settle on the doorframe over her shoulder. “Nick Hasgo has a party tonight. We secured an invitation for you before the attack on the Heads of Six Convention.”  
  
Taking pity on her companion, Andrea sat next to him. “With the new information you’ve gathered, you think that I’ll be able to pick up on more details.” Running her fingers through her long brown tresses, Andrea tried to keep her reactions calm. She was one of the youngest, had a documented interest in music, and an ex-lover that she could still plausibly be pining over who would be in attendance. She wondered if she could hex Lily or Nate and have it dismissed as ‘building her cover story.’  
  
“No one knows of your involvement with the Minutemen.” Benny patted her knee and then stood. Pulling the invitation out of his back pocket, Benny added, “Something major is going to happen, Andrea. The formal language on the card was the same from the moment we acquired it until an hour ago.”  
  
 _The Merchants of Chaos  
Invite you to  
Smash the Tree  
  
Saturday, the eleventh of November  
Two thousand and six  
From 9 pm to dawn  
  
The Affinia Manhattan Hotel  
Rooftop Terrace  
Manhattan, New York_  
  
Blinking rapidly, Andrea read the words over and over again. To her knowledge it was the first time the groups’ title had ever been printed or public in any way. “What did it say before?”  
  
Benny conjured an almost identical card and held it out. The changes were highlighted in a greenish hue.  
  
 _Nick Hasgo and Band_  
Invite you to  
Smash the Tree  
  
The rest of the invitation remained the same. Andrea didn’t really know what to make of the fact that the change did not reveal a different destination or other details. She could still convince herself it was a party for Nick Hasgo. The only change would be that now she knew he was part of the group that killed her father and that the other invitees were members of the group, interested parties, or new recruits.  
  
“I will not lie to you, Andrea. Going tonight will be far worse than the first time.” Benny turned toward the dresser and pulled a wand from the top drawer. “An extra wand would not go amiss in a situation such as this.”  
  
Holding the wand in her palms, Andrea searched his face. “Benny?”  
  
Curling her fingers around the wood, her father’s best friend assured her. “Stacey would give anything she had to protect you.”  
  
They both knew the words to be true, as she had given everything to protect him.  
  
Andrea’s eyes filled with tears and she murmured a nearly unintelligible thank you.  
  
Once the door had clicked shut, Andrea set the wand on top of the dresser with her own and began to undress with shaky hands. A dead woman’s wand might be the only advantage she had as she went into the gathering of the group responsible for killing her father. Nearly stumbling as she stepped out of her trousers, Andrea closed her eyes and willed the nausea to pass.  
  
Faces from the information wall in Benny’s living room flashed across her mind. She would have to face them again, perhaps even get close to some of them. The comfort that Ferguson’s death and Daniels’ incarceration provided paled in the face of knowing that her former lover and her ex best friend could also be a part of the same group trying to tear apart all security in their world. Andrea’s hand went to her mouth as blue eyes, silvery white hair, and a cruel mouth brought the image of Miranda to the forefront of her mind, along with two red headed teenagers singing the lyrics of their father’s songs.  
  
Rushing to the toilet, Andrea barely had the seat up when she heaved the contents of her stomach up and out.  
  
Sweating profusely, she knew that she’d need a lot of cleansing charms for herself, her garments, and perhaps a Calming Draught. Forcing the connections between the intriguing woman and her father’s death from her mind, Andrea stood on unsteady feet. Through sheer force of will, she retrieved her wand and began to tidy herself up while staring at her own reflection. Her brown eyes seemed to become harder as she shut down her emotions and willed herself to be capable of presenting herself as a new recruit.

 

x


	5. Five

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Note: Andrea is more of an Avian shifter than a specific Animagus in HP style. This either was inspired by SGCbearcub’s portrayal of Jareth from Legend, or my brain’s twist of the same portrayal after that fic.

_**Defying Chaos. Part 5/10.**_  
  
Andrea held onto the railing as she willed herself not to throw up, cry, or otherwise reveal how stressful her conversation had just been. Her cover was a story they had been working on ever since the first party, yet using it in practice had been nothing compared to pulling it off in real life. With forced careful touches and strategic flirting, she had convinced Nick Hasgo’s long time associate that she had never disagreed with Nate and Lily about politics. Leaning close to the man who appeared as if he should have been a rock and roll star in his own right with the blonde artful spikes on his head and then long tendrils of hair trailing over his shoulders, Andrea had assured him that she had moved on from that petty lover’s quarrel with them. She agreed with each scathing comment he made about the Ministry and the puppets in the press and the masses supporting their control.  
  
He had left her with a kiss on the cheek and a promise to contact her soon.  
  
At first she was kind of numb, acting on autopilot as she grabbed a drink from a passing waiter and made her way across the rooftop terrace. Downing her champagne, Andrea snapped out of her daze as the bubbles tickled her nose mercilessly. She had wanted to run and instead had forced herself to seek out the edge.  
  
“Andrea?” Her whispered name drew her out of her panicked view of the panorama of Manhattan stretched out before them. “What are you doing here?”  
  
Wanting to step toward the beautiful woman, Andrea held her fist to her chest. It hurt to be drawn to her, when the woman could easily be a Merchant of Chaos. “Are you one of them?” She had to know. In that moment it was the only thing that mattered.  
  
“You can’t be here.” Miranda scanned the party around them wondering how much time they had. “Whomever you intercepted the invitation from will be killed as a traitor.”  
  
Andrea stepped close, defiance overruling any sense she had left after the adrenalin rushing through her body. “What do you care?”  
  
Instead of responding, Miranda turned her head to listen behind her. When her eyes narrowed and her nostrils flared, she hissed, “Stupid girl.”  
  
Two men and a woman approached behind Miranda. “Is this woman bothering you?”  
  
With a dismissive glare, the white haired woman they were assigned to protect sent them away. “It’s nothing.” Then Miranda raised her wand at Andrea as she turned her head and growled. Red light spilled from her wand hitting Andrea in the shoulder hard enough to throw her backward over the railing and into the long plunge of night below.  
  
The young woman screamed as she fell. With a smirk at each other, the trio of guards turned and made their way back to their post a discreet distance from the woman who had not even blinked before killing.  
  
Closer to the railing, Miranda stepped forward until the cold metal pressed against the thin material of her dress. The falling cries had abruptly cut off to those of a bird of prey. Her eyes tried to locate where the girl should have still been falling, Miranda saw a magnificent brown and white owl swooping awkwardly away—with a struggling flap of the left wing.  
  
*** *** ***  
  
Enjoying the brisk air as she headed down the street, Andrea tensed as she heard the alarms going off. Her intuition screamed at her that trouble had hit home. Seeing a pair of robed figures run from the front of Benny’s townhouse, Andrea broke into a run. Heedless of her approach the figures continued toward her. Surveying the scene, the brunette realized no one was about, so she leveled her wand at them. Her stupefy hit the first Wizard, but he was pushed forward by his companion.  
  
“Go!” The second Wizard yelled as his colleague stumbled.  
  
Andrea watched as they lurched out into the street. She recognized the second Wizard as Irving Ravitz. Hesitating a moment as she decided whether to pursue them or rush to Benny, Andrea nearly had her head taken off by a flying magenta curse. She knew she could fight, but decided it wasn’t worth the risk to take on two Wizards of unknown skill levels. If Benny was still in the townhouse, she could save him before the plumes of smoke already billowing could devour the whole structure.  
  
“Benny!” Andrea called out over and over as she rushed through the open doorway and into his home. From the kitchen, she heard a groan and rushed through the downstairs to investigate. Seeing him on the floor, Andrea slid to her knees. “Benny, are you alright? Benny?” She frantically searched for a pulse and then tried to determine the extent of his injuries. The living room wall of evidence was ablaze, but Andrea couldn’t find it in her to care beyond noticing.  
  
“Andrea. You have to leave now.” Miranda’s voice was as out of place as her sleek pantsuit as she glided into the fiery residence as if impervious to the effects. When Andrea gaped up at her in shock, Miranda continued closer. “They will come back, Andrea. You must not be here.”  
  
Aiming her wand at the tall woman, Andrea turned to angle her body in a defensive posture over Benny. He had already been hurt enough. “Why should I trust you?”  
  
Holding out her empty hands, Miranda curtly explained. “Stupid girl, use your brain. I don’t even have my wand out.” Miranda stepped closer knowing Andrea did not want to hurt her. “My actions have saved you each time.”  
  
Breathing deep, Andrea had to acknowledge those positive details. “How did you even know to come here?”  
  
Clenching her jaw for a precious second that they didn’t really have, Miranda huffed. “I know you researched my Muggle life and know about my former CEO, Irving Ravitz. I have him tracked for a variety of reasons.”  
  
Accepting this with a nod, the brunette gestured to the unresponsive Benny. “I need to get him to the hospital.”  
  
Pulling a business card from her jacket pocket, Miranda offered. “That would advertise his survival. The card is a port key to my personal healer. Just read the phrase on the back.”  
  
Andrea took the card and flipped it over. For a few seconds she watched the enigmatic woman and wondered about all the incongruent details and theories she had about her. Grabbing hold of Benny’s upper arm, Andrea looked down at the words. “I have an emergency.” She fought the urge to close her eyes as the familiar sensation of a hook pulling her navel took over.  
  
*** *** ***  
  
Andrea’s head fell forward for the hundredth time and she startled awake as she had done for several hours now. Untroubled, Benny slept through her many outbursts. This time Andrea almost screamed as she took in the silvery white hair of the woman leaning against the doorframe. Standing, Andrea made her way over to the woman.  
  
Stepping out into the hall of the healer’s private sanctuary, Miranda let out a sigh of relief she hadn’t realized she had been holding. “Will Galvez recover?”  
  
Wiping at her face with her fingers, Andrea nodded and yawned simultaneously. To clarify her inarticulate display, she added, “Your healer was a trifle startled but quite amazing.”  
  
Miranda nodded and reached forward to take Andrea by the hand. “I’m glad you could save him.”  
  
Following the older woman down the hall to the living room style waiting room, Andrea asked, “How did you know they’d come back? Why did you rescue us?”  
  
Miranda pulled Andrea down to sit with her on the couch. “You intercepted the invitation to the soiree from Josephine Ramburra. They brought her in for interrogation before they killed her. The woman gave them enough clues to suspect Galvez. So they went after him. I knew that Nick might send Irving, but he would never trust him to do the job. He would be sending in a cleaning crew after the idiot checked back with him.”  
  
Andrea pondered the explanation for a few moments. “How did you know Benny would lead to me?”  
  
Peering down at their still joined hands, Miranda felt her body warm with an embarrassed flush. “You stood out, Andrea, and not just to me.” Miranda brought her blue eyes up to hold Andrea’s soulful gaze. “Zacharias Sachs and Benny Galvez had the kind of friendship that stands out even to one’s so called enemies. I know you are not part of the Minutemen, but you cannot escape those ties of family and friendship.”  
  
Her brain beginning to devour new facts and combine them in different ways, Andrea realized that Miranda seemed melancholy at the mention of her father’s friendship. “You knew my father.”  
  
With a slight shake of her head, Miranda denied the link. “I knew of your father. Who in publishing didn’t?”  
  
Andrea couldn’t shake the notion that this was not the complete story, but she knew the time for that argument wasn’t now. “You’re not on any side, are you?” Andrea shifted to face Miranda, but made sure to keep their hands clasped and part of her leg touching the other woman. “You are surrounded by them and just want to protect your girls.” Andrea felt her heart spasm at the thought. “Why would you ever want to rescue me? Surely, every interaction you’ve had with me has put you further into danger?”  
  
Miranda wiggled her fingers where their were still intertwined with Andrea’s and then shifted so that she could stroke Andrea’s fingers and her palm. “I can’t seem to stop.” She shook Andrea’s hand slightly to indicate she meant the way they reached for each other. “I think you’re part Veela.”  
  
Andrea giggled. The sentence seemed so odd coming from the poised editor of a Muggle fashion magazine. It was refreshing to know that Miranda also felt a pull between them. She wondered if they would ever get to find out.  
  
After several seconds of intense quiet between them, Miranda shifted the conversation once more. “You cannot spy anymore. You won’t be accepted back since I blew you off the rooftop.”  
  
Sighing Andrea squeezed Miranda’s hand. “I never wanted to be part of this anyway. I just came back to New York for a visit and Benny was so excited that I could actually pull off going to that album release party.” Andrea considered her life before that party, since that party, and what it could be in the future. “Come away with me. Bring the girls and leave all of this.”  
  
Miranda sighed. Her heart wanted nothing more than to accept Andrea’s offer. Who knew what would happen between them or what the girls would think, but it couldn’t have been more tempting. “There’s no hiding from the twins’ father. He will never let us go.”  
  
Thinking about recent events, Andrea recalled the invitation card for the rooftop party. “Everything centers around him.” In her mind she saw the words switch from Nick Hasgo to the line that read Merchants of Chaos. Tapping her free hand on her lips, Andrea contemplated events over the last several weeks. “It wasn’t just convenience that it was Nick Hasgo’s CD Party, or his Smash the Tree event. He really is the center of this group.”  
  
_Nick Hasgo invites you… Merchants of Chaos… Nick Hasgo… King of the Chaos Merchants…_  
  
Miranda just stared at the beguiling brunette with a conflicted heart. She wanted the girl to figure it out, but it would be more dangerous for both of them if she did. Miranda felt her exhaustion kicking in after carrying around these secrets for so long.  
  
_Nick… Kin… Hasgo… C… aos… g… h… King… Chaos… KING CHAOS!_  
  
Andrea saw the words in her mind and then the letters as she repeated them over and over creating a jumble until she screeched, “He’s the center of it all. He’s their leader, their king!” Her eyes wide with realization, Andrea finished quietly. “It’s his name re-arranged—King Chaos.”  
  
Tears streamed down Miranda’s cheeks. Andrea absently wiped them away with the pads of her fingers as her brain continued to whir around.  
  
“What was the party about? Why was the name revealed on the invitation? What was announced or done after I left?” Andrea let the questions tumble from her mouth, knowing that there would be no way to keep up if she kept going with them.  
  
Miranda shook her head and covered her face with her hands. When a sob broke her feeble attempt at control, she murmured, “Last night began official inductions into the Merchants.”  
  
Pulling the older woman’s face up, Andrea searched her eyes. “Did they mark you?”  
  
Frowning, Miranda pulled her chin from Andrea’s hand. “I am removed from it, yet I cannot get away from it.”  
  
Andrea examined her companion and knew from the set of her jaw there was a missing piece. “What aren’t you saying?” She cupped Miranda’s cheek. “The girls.” She whispered hoping against the truth.  
  
Miranda nodded and her face crumpled from the emotional pain. Andrea’s hands rested on her shoulders, wrapping comfort around her. The pads of her thumbs stroked back and forth in a soothing motion. She began to fire more questions at the older woman. “Where, when…”  
  
With a shake of her head, Miranda quietly stated. “It won’t make a difference.”  
  
Andrea squeezed the shoulders under her palms and offered, “I’m sure that between you, me, and the Minutemen that we could come up with something.”  
  
Shaking her head, Miranda denied the claim. “The Minutemen won’t help me.”  
  
Pulling Miranda’s hand into her lap, Andrea stroked the soft skin just as Miranda had done to her. “They might not help you specifically, but they want to get these people so that they can stop worrying about another war.”  
  
Unsure why she would take up the cause of hope after thirteen years of crushed dream after crushed dream, Miranda offered what she knew. “I only know that the second ceremony will be in two weeks in order to coincide with the girls’ birthday and the full moon. Other children of Chaos supporters will also be offered membership.”  
  
Pulling the older woman in for a hug, Andrea encouraged her, “When you have details. Come to me.” She didn’t let go for many seconds.  
  
When they did separate, Miranda nodded. With a teary kiss, she stood and slipped out into the night.

 

x


	6. Six

_**Defying Chaos. Part 6/10.**_  
  
Once Benny was lucid enough to use the Floo, Andrea propped him up in front of the fire and levitated him into the green flames. She stayed right with him and hoped for the best. He only had to keep it together long enough to say the name of the Minutemen Headquarters. Settling him into a transfigured kitchen chair, Andrea began to jot notes on parchment and fling them toward the nearest open wall space. All of their notes had gone up in flames and, even if they didn’t, it would be too dangerous to return after the fire went down.  
  
“Who are you?” The question was practically shouted at Andrea. The person came a few steps closer before addressing her again. “You can’t be in here.”  
  
Andrea didn’t bother acknowledging at the new arrival. She kept noting, cutting parchment, and spelling it to the wall. In between notes she pointed at Benny as if he would be the answer to all of this person’s questions.  
  
“What have you done? Benny, are you alright?” The person rushed toward the still recovering man and then shouted at the intruder who had brought him. “Stop this instant or I will hex you.”  
  
Glancing at the older brunette with her hair in a severe bun, Andrea sighed. “Benny’s house was attacked by the M.O.C.. He was injured and his house was burned. I took him to a healer. Once he was stable I had him bring me here. He needs to recover from the jostling of Floo travel when he really wasn’t ready for it.”  
  
The woman settled into a chair next to Benny, but kept her wand aimed at the young woman. “You’re familiar.”  
  
It took more self-control than Andrea wanted to waste not to retort, ‘so do you.’ It wouldn’t get them anywhere and she seemed to have already pissed the woman off. “Sachs.”  
  
Andrea returned to her scribbling, figuring that the older woman wouldn’t hex her for writing.  
  
It took a moment, but the older woman placed the name, “Ah, Zacharias’ daughter then.”  
  
Taking the partial recognition as a sign to continue her previous work, Andrea spelled her notes toward the wall in an approximation of Benny’s original placement. “Andrea.” She nodded at the woman and then asked, “Do you have any memory frames?”  
  
*** *** ***  
  
By the time the older woman, with the severe bun had helped Andrea re-create the evidence wall it was nearly daylight again. Benny had been moved to a room down the hall once he had woken up and corroborated Andrea’s story. Apparently Veronica had been content to play along with Andrea in order to gather information, but hadn’t really trusted her until Benny could give her full validation. Andrea settled into a chair at the table to sip at soup the older woman had warmed up for her.  
  
“What are you leaving out?” Veronica’s green eyes sparked with a fearsomeness that Andrea found herself admiring.  
  
Knowing the Minutemen would not help if they did not feel they had all the information, Andrea considered how best to explain. “At the CD release party I met a woman who turned out to be Nick Hasgo’s ex-wife. I have had a few subsequent run-ins with her. While she has not been pleasant, her actions have made it possible for me to escape alive from both of my spy missions.” Andrea couldn’t figure out how to convey the parts of her connection with Miranda that she did not even understand.  
  
“Continue.” Veronica raised her eyebrow at Andrea in a move very similar to the white haired woman’s mannerism.  
  
“She was able to track one of her rivals to Benny’s home and she knew enough about myself and Benny to know that I would be in danger. She saved both of us from a return attack. It was her healer that we went to, so that we were not advertising that Benny had survived.” Andrea nodded as she reached an appropriate stopping point that was honest without needing to add in the confusing draw between them.  
  
Those emerald eyes evaluated Andrea for several moments. “What is her name?”  
  
Reluctantly, Andrea shared the name that had been so hard find. “Miranda Priestly.”  
  
Leaning forward, Veronica took Andrea’s soup bowl. “You should get some rest. The room next to Benny’s is free.” She stood and made her way over to the sink. “Heidi Quinn and Patrick Lebar will be quite interested in what you have to say.” She turned on the tap to get it hot and then asked, “She will bring you information?”  
  
Andrea nodded absently. Sleep sounded amazing. She wasn’t even sure when she had rested last, but she knew it hadn’t been enough. “Yeah. She will let me know when the ceremony is set.” Andrea blinked at her companion and then gave a tremulous smile. “I don’t know how she’ll contact me, but I’m sure we’ll find a way.”  
  
*** *** ***  
  
The tiny owl held out its leg and Benny took the note. With a chirp before its treat, the bird took its leave. Amused at the creature’s larger than life attitude, Benny unrolled the note. “Well, I never. Here. Take it.” He waved the parchment at Andrea. “That’s some healer wanting a follow up appointment to check on me.” He held it out for her to peruse. “Want to accompany me, Andrea?”  
  
 _Mr. Galvez,  
Please return for a check-up with me.  
No appointment necessary.  
—Healer Rook_  
  
Amused with Benny’s fascination, Andrea began to read the cramped writing of the healer. Stifling a squeak by biting her bottom lip, Andrea watched as the letters rearranged themselves. It was the same four lines of text, yet all of the other details had shifted while in Andrea’s hand.  
  
 _Andrea,_  
Rooftop Terrace. The Affinia.  
Just after midnight tonight. Fly.  
—M  
  
Casually palming the note, Andrea offered. “Sure. What time do you think you want to go? You can buy me lunch.” Benny waggled a finger at her, but then he suggested his favorite sandwich place and she knew she had him. When he left to get ready, Andrea read the note once more. The now blank parchment caused her to raise her eyebrows. It showed impressive forethought to charm the letter for Benny and then Andrea—let alone to charm it blank after reading. Not for the first time, Andrea found her mind filling with questions about the beautiful, tall, woman with the shining blue eyes and striking white hair.  
  
*** *** ***  
  
Having tried to fight the winds more than once in her avian form, Andrea checked the visiting hours for the tallest buildings she has visited. Thankful that she had worked on a local history piece, Andrea Apparated to the terrace once used by Margaret Bourke-White at the top of the Chrysler building. Trailing her hand along the railing, Andrea made her way over to the gargoyle. Climbing on top, the brunette breathed deep as she took in the view of the city. It was one of the views that so few people were able to see and she relished her rare privilege. Not only had she been able to gain access once, but she could now return anytime she desired.  
  
Murmuring the spell that would allow her to retain her clothes and other items, Andrea stepped until she slid forward right off the nose of the gargoyle. From 61 floors, she had plenty of time to enjoy the gut swooping drop and still transform on time to get to the roof of the Affinia Hotel.  
  
On her first pass, Andrea did not see the white hair that would give away the mysterious woman’s presence. With a squawk, she flapped her wings and made her way around the building again. This time she noticed a woman wrapped in a black shawl covering her head similar to a hooded robe. When the woman turned to face her, Andrea transformed mid-air and took the terrace rail with one foot and then down to the surface with the next large step. It could have been more graceful, though she did avoid sliding into Miranda.  
  
“Andrea.” The older woman raised her hand to greet the still wobbly brunette. “Nice approach, though you didn’t stick the landing.” Miranda fought the urge to close the distance between them.  
  
Smiling widely, the brunette shrugged in a self-deprecating manner. “I didn’t see you on my first pass.” She stepped close and waved up at Miranda’s shawl. “Do we need to hide here? Even on the roof?”  
  
With the beautiful younger woman so close, Miranda reached out to tangle their fingers together. She didn’t want to be shy—not after their closeness at the healer’s. “It is hard to be sure of anything, Andrea.”  
  
Reaching up to trail her fingers along the cheek and lips that she had been missing, the brunette wondered. “Should we go somewhere else?”  
  
Knowing the dangers to her heart, Miranda bit her bottom lip for several seconds. Somewhere safe and alone with Andrea would be heavenly and heartbreaking. “You make me feel safe.” She breathed out before catching the rest of her words and holding them back.  
  
Glad she could sweep the older woman away and steal time with her, Andrea offered, “I know a place.” At Miranda’s nod, Andrea concentrated once again on the terrace above the gargoyle on the Chrysler Building. When the swirl of apparition fell away from them, Miranda clung tightly to Andrea. “Easy.” Andrea steadied her and then almost lost her thought as she gazed into those blue eyes. “Very few people can access this spot and it is highly unlikely that the people who could would think to do so at this time of night.”  
  
Distracted by the view for several seconds, Miranda breathed deeply. “I can’t stay long.” When she felt Andrea’s eyes on her, Miranda turned to face her. “I had an event at the hotel tonight and booked a suite, but I’m sure that my absence will somehow be noted.” Miranda shook her head. “Maybe I’m paranoid.”  
  
Seeing that the older woman was working herself up, Andrea leaned forward and silenced her with a kiss. Miranda reached for her instantly, clinging to Andrea as the embodiment of hope that she was. “I think you’re understandably cautious.” Andrea murmured as they held tightly to each other after their kiss. “If you can’t stay long, then I guess I shouldn’t distract you.”  
  
Stealing another kiss, Miranda stepped away from the younger woman. “Such a delightful distraction though.”  
  
Following her investigative instincts, Andrea started with an easy question. She already knew the date, now it was just a matter of the other details, so that they could begin to plan. “Where will the ceremony be?”  
  
Wrapping her arms around her body, Miranda responded in a dull voice. “Fulmer Falls Waterfall in the Poconos.”  
  
Her brow creasing in confusion, Andrea tried for a few moments to come up with the best question to ask next. “A waterfall?” It wasn’t the most articulate question perhaps, but it clearly expressed her confusion and surprise.  
  
Understanding her companion’s confusion, Miranda explained, “If an entourage of innocents pledges loyalty to him at the site of a waterfall under a full moon, then his magical core will be doubled. It is a perversion of the connection to nature’s energy most familiar in the stories of the Naiads.”  
  
Andrea moved so that she could take in the view. Though she did not speak for several moments, she brushed her shoulder against Miranda and then stood close to keep their connection solid. “He thinks he will be invincible.” Andrea pondered out loud. “How strong is his magic already?”  
  
Miranda shrugged. “Perhaps he is above average at this point. He would not be invincible, only stronger. His main success right now is working in the shadows and surrounding himself in such a way that others will suffer the consequences that should go to him.”  
  
Turning to observe her companion, Andrea marveled at the other woman’s inner strength. Strands of her white hair whipped about in the breeze now that her shawl had fallen around her shoulders. Andrea longed to reach up and smooth it back, so that she could feel the other woman, be close to her, and even, dare she think it, love her. Flexing her fingers and then releasing them, Andrea tried to read her body language, watch for micro expressions, and ponder the swirl of emotions and thoughts behind those shimmering blue eyes. “What are you leaving out?”  
  
Miranda smiled at her and reached out to trail her fingertips along her cheek. “Nothing you cannot figure out when you think about the situation and the odds.” Reaching for a lock of Andrea’s deep brown hair, Miranda rubbed her fingers against it and fought the urge to pull the younger woman to her. “Do you think the Minutemen will come?”  
  
Andrea nodded, “Now that the identity of King Chaos has been confirmed and we have solid intelligence on what he will be doing with his followers including date, time, location, and general attendance—it would be stupid not to bring the fight to him.”  
  
Kissing the passionate brunette hard, Miranda released her as quickly as she had embraced her. “Be careful, Andrea.” With a soft pop, the older woman Apparated away from their quiet corner up above the world.

 

x


	7. Seven

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A/N: This chapter has a Wizarding fight and one Wizard meets his end in a rather gory way. Though it’s only a handful of sentences and I’m sure you’ll know it is coming.

_**Defying Chaos. Part 7/10.**_  
  
Andrea pondered Miranda’s words as she sat above the gargoyle on the Chrysler Building. Just as she was considering an alternate location because of her shivering, Andrea realized: Miranda would do anything for her girls, even if it meant sacrificing herself; and she would have a backup plan in case she failed to protect them. For a heartbreaking instant, Andrea wanted to Apparate to the rooftop terrace and confront the older woman. With a sigh of resignation, she knew that the other woman wouldn’t have stayed up there anyway and it was unlikely that Andrea could locate her, let alone get close. Taking avian form, Andrea forced herself into the cool breeze of sixty stories above New York to literally cool down.  
  
The light of spell fire caught her attention as she closed in on the current headquarters of the Minutemen. Perching in a tree outside of Veronica Terrino’s townhouse, Andrea tried to make out who was attacking whom. In the nighttime and covered in dark fabric, it was hard to identify her allies. Jumping closer to the firefight, Andrea barely flapped her wings. Below her a Wizard fired off a red curse that knocked his opponent to the ground. When the woman fell, her face was revealed to be Veronica herself. Shifting back to human form, Andrea allowed her body to fall atop her host’s attacker.  
  
The man writhed under her, but Andrea wrapped around him to prevent a return attack. Her confidence in Defense class shattered now that she was in a real battle. Her eyes resting on the unmoving form of Veronica, Andrea wondered what the hell the others were doing? Surely there had been more Wizards fighting when she arrived.  
  
Then time returned to normal flow and Andrea felt a curse hit her side.  
  
Rolling quickly, Andrea was on her feet with her wand extended in agonizing seconds. Turning partially to face her new attacker, Andrea fought the urge to back up. She would not let them dictate the terms of this engagement. As they advanced on her, Andrea slashed her wand back and forth in a whip-crack motion practiced thousands and thousands of times. The Ricochet Maneuver was able to spread two curses back and forth over two opponents in close fighting sequences. She had only ever done it for performance and never with a Bombarda and a Cross-eyed Hex. As both Wizards stepped back and then floundered for balance, Andrea knew she had once again proven her prowess—and to trust in the hours of training required in school.  
  
Taking in the scene around her, Andrea saw Heidi Quinn subduing her opponent, while Veronica remained unmoving. “Is he secure?” The young brunette shouted down the sidewalk.  
  
The older woman turned in Andrea’s direction only slightly confused by the sight of her. “He’s not going anywhere.” She advanced on Andrea’s position. “That just leaves one for each of us.” She taunted the recovering Wizards.  
  
Chad Xavier shook off the effects of his spells first and rounded on Andrea. “The pretty little spy from the party.” He rushed Andrea pushing her backward several steps and into the metal rails of the property fencing. “Back from the dead. Oooh, you’re marvelous, aren’t you.” He leered into Andrea’s face as she ineffectually pushed at him.  
  
Knowing she couldn’t escape his hold and that Heidi had her own opponent, Andrea breathed deep and held onto Chad Xavier. With a loud pop, she pulled Chad with her into the air above the house and let him go. With a wet scrunch his head was impaled on a fence spike. Realizing that she would be meeting the same fate as she descended, Andrea transformed with a squawk and nearly dove headlong into the street before she could pull herself up. As soon as her feet touched the ground, the brunette aimed her wand at the wizard trembling between herself and Heidi.  
  
“Come quietly or meet the same fate.” Heidi taunted the man as she continued toward him from behind.  
  
Eyes going wide at that proclamation, the man Apparated away with a loud crack.  
  
Andrea staggered further down the street to distance herself from the man’s body. Pulled back by responsibility, she clenched her teeth and fingers into fists as she forced herself to focus on Veronica. The only other choices she could process in the moment were: vomiting or flying away to live the rest of her life in avian form.  
  
Heidi cast a diagnostic spell over her colleague. “Veronica’ll make it if we get her to the hospital soon.”  
  
With a shake of her head at those words, Andrea pulled a wrinkled card from her pocket. “No hospitals.” Letting her gaze wander over the battle scene, she shivered. “Where’s Benny?”  
  
Heidi followed the young woman’s gaze around the area and understood that this was her first actual fighting of any note. She admired the sheer tenacity of will the brunette possessed. “Benny and Patrick are inside. They ambushed us before we could even activate the wards. I’ll get them and deal with this lot. I suppose you can get her to a healer then?” When Andrea nodded dumbly up at her, Heidi continued. “I’d have the healer check you for shock and get some rest.”  
  
Nodding, Andrea clutched Veronica’s shoulder with one hand and Healer Rook’s card in the other. “I have an emergency.” She stated clearly before the pull of the Portkey swept them away.  
  
*** *** ***  
  
Andrea’s esteem of Healer Rook skyrocketed when he simply raised an eyebrow at her and her newest patient for him and began to work. He shuffled her off to the waiting room and transfigured the couch to be deeper, before he laced her pumpkin juice with a calming draught and abandoned her. Several hours later she wondered what business Rook played at that he would lace her without provocation, heal whoever wandered into his clinic, and not care about the hours of the day. She wondered if she Portkeyed in if it would always be Healer Rook, or if there would be times that she stumbled after the jolt of the Portkey and found another Healer. In her still drowsy state, she mused that all the Healers at this clinic could very well be taking Polyjuice.  
  
“Dread Pirate Roberts.” She murmured to herself as she rolled up into a sitting position. It wasn’t quite the same concept, but it was still amusing to think that there would always be a Healer Rook.  
  
As if to prove her (admittedly absurd) theory positive, Healer Rook came into the room bearing two steaming mugs of tea. “There you are.” He intoned as he held out a mug for the brunette. “And here you go.” He even chuckled at his own wording, completely oblivious to the path her mind had been wandering down. “Your colleague was worse off than Mr. Galvez, though she will make a full recovery. You on the other hand seemed to have barely made it here at all.” He blew on his tea quite casually and did not ask the question that normally would flow after such observations.  
  
Andrea blinked at him and then stared down into her tea wondering if it was laced with something else this time—pepper up might be in order, but it tasted just dreadful with English Breakfast. Frowning at the light brown liquid, Andrea wondered just how rude it would be to ask the man sitting in the chair adjacent to her on the couch.  
  
“It’s just tea, dear, though I can summon milk and sugar for you.” Healer Rook blithely assured her and returned to his own beverage. Nearly two minutes passed by and then the Healer tilted his head back to finish his cup. “She will be very disappointed if you get yourself killed.” With that ambiguous statement, he stood and made his way to the hallway. “Ms. Terrino will need to rest for a few days here.” In the next beat, the healer stepped into the darkness of the hallway.  
  
Thinking of whom he must have meant would be disappointed jolted Andrea into a panic. She didn’t know what time it was or what else may have happened since her arrival. The Merchants of Chaos seemed to be attempting to prove themselves as they approached the ceremony and their public reveal. Stepping to the Floo without checking herself over, Andrea called out, “Veronica Terrino residence.” She hoped it wasn’t one of those older residences with a fancy name, instead of the usual American name and destination type.  
  
*** *** ***  
  
Benny dropped his fork on his plate and stood as Andrea nearly fell from the fireplace. “Andrea? My God, are you all right, girl? What’s happened now?”  
  
Blinking at him dumbly, Andrea shook her head trying to focus herself. “Veronica will be all right.” She murmured as she stepped toward the table and rested her hands on the back of the nearest chair. “We have to call everyone in. I know what they are going to do.”  
  
With a frown, Benny motioned across the table for her to sit in the chair holding her up. “Heidi is still sleeping. It took a while for the Aurors to investigate the battle scene out there.” When the young woman dropped into the chair, he waved his wand to send a plate of toast her direction. Patrick could easily make himself some more. When she didn’t respond, he also sent Patrick’s coffee toward her. Then he acknowledged the other man’s absence by adding, “Patrick left something upstairs.” Pointing at the breakfast, he suggested, “Why don’t you eat something and then share with us when he returns.”  
  
Munching a piece of toast, Andrea slowly processed Benny’s earlier words. “Do they want to bring me in for questioning?” The memory of the messy battle scene made her stomach flip flop and she set the toast on the plate.  
  
“You don’t know how convincing Heidi Quinn can be.” He smiled at her and expanded on his reply. “She submitted a memory of the scene for the Aurors and took Veritaserum in order to speed the process along.”  
  
Swallowing against her suddenly dry throat, Andrea rubbed at her throat. “She did that. Wow.”  
  
Patrick’s thumping steps preceded him into the room. “The girl took my place as spy and now you give her my breakfast? Benny Galvez, I should abjure you from the Minutemen altogether.”  
  
Andrea cast a furtive glance at Benny who waved her off with a smile. “Andrea has news to share.” Benny offered their grumpy companion. “And the healer shared that Veronica will recover.”  
  
Gathering fresh toast and coffee, Patrick joined them at the table. “Fine fighting last night, girl. Heidi was impressed.”  
  
Choking on the unexpected praise, Andrea coughed for several seconds and then burned her tongue on coffee.  
  
“Well, what’s the news then?” Patrick held his coffee cup at her in an odd salute.

 

x


	8. Eight

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A/N: I think that one of Andrea’s points is a quote from the film RED.
> 
> A/N 1: I couldn’t resist the play of Wizards of Liberty on the actual Sons of Liberty. I mean why not, I already had the modern Wizarding group called the Minutemen.

_**Defying Chaos. Part 8/10.**_  
  
“Are you really going to hide your head in the sand while he gets more powerful?” Andrea could not believe the reaction Benny and Patrick had to her flow of information.  
  
From the entrance to the kitchen, Heidi’s tired voice joined the conversation. “You misunderstand, Miss Sachs. Any of us would go into that fight regardless of the odds. Benny, Veronica, you, and myself have already been attacked. The full moon is tonight and we simply do not have enough people to make a difference.”  
  
Standing and pacing the kitchen floor in front of the fireplace, Andrea breathed deeply. Her frustration could get the better of her, but she knew that these people were on her side. It was just that they disagreed on the path forward. “With a small group of dedicated individuals, there isn’t anything you cannot accomplish.” Andrea turned to face them. “There has to be a way to stop Nick Hasgo, the King of Chaos, from doubling his power.”  
  
Benny turned to Patrick. “What if we call in all of the members at large?”  
  
Turning his mug on the table, Patrick pondered the suggestion. “Not enough time.”  
  
Heidi sighed. “I’m going back to the Ministry.”  
  
The rough slide of Patrick’s chair before it toppled back caught everyone’s attention. “I will Obliviate you, Heidi Quinn. If you take one more step, so help me.” Patrick’s growling rumble echoed in the quiet room. His wand shook in his hand with pent up rage.  
  
“For fuck’s sake.” Heidi sighed as she turned back around. “We can stop him tonight, Patrick Lebar.” Her eyes narrowed in defiance of his rage. “Or do you wish to prolong this conflict and allow it to turn into a full war? Have the deaths of Zacharias, Stacey, and the others been meaningless?”  
  
Patrick’s voice vibrated with the held back power of his words. “The Minutemen have been a secret organization brought out from the ashes of the Uprising of 1764 when the Wizards of Liberty were wiped out.” He stalked closer to Heidi, apparently hell bent to make his point. “Need I remind you that a partnership with a government rotted from inside out was the cause of their downfall?”  
  
Heidi crossed her arms over her chest and barely avoided rolling her eyes at the man. “I’m not proposing a marriage with the Ministry, you nitwit.”  
  
Not quite understanding the history lesson, Andrea offered, “They know about the M.O.C., but they don’t know everything that we know, right?” When Benny encouraged her on, Andrea quietly offered, “Why don’t I go to the Ministry with details?” Feeling the steady gaze of both Patrick and Heidi on her, Andrea followed up. “I’m not actually part of the Minutemen.” Shrugging, she added, “I just stumbled on a pile of crazy when I was trying to stalk my boyfriend who is wrapped up in all this M.O.C. stuff. I could be the damsel in distress after getting attacked last night along with the family friends of my father.”  
  
Heidi clapped her hands together and then turned accusing eyes on Patrick. “Can’t really argue with the girl, now can you?”  
  
*** *** ***  
  
Andrea did her best to approach the waterfall area in a birdly manner. She had double checked the local birds and chosen the most nondescript on the local list. Few knew that she could shift and even they didn’t know she could assume any avian form she wanted. The Aurors at the Ministry had told her that they would handle the shutdown of the M.O.C. from that point on and that Andrea should not involve herself further. She had already been blasted off the roof of a hotel, they had reminded her.  
  
With a sense of dread she had made her way back to the base of the Minutemen. His usual prickly self, Patrick ranted about collaboration with the Ministry and spouted theories of corruption within its ranks. Heidi did not buy into his rhetoric and pointed out that if that was the case they would have imprisoned her for the previous evening’s duel. Furthermore she pointed out that they wouldn’t have allowed Andrea to leave with her information once she had gone into the Aurorory. They had called in the members at large, but when Andrea left headquarters, it was still uncertain how many would be able to join the fight.  
  
Unable to wait, Andrea had made her way to the Poconos and begun to put as many traps in place as she could. As the sun went down and the twilight faded to black, there was nothing for her to do, but flit around.  
  
*** *** ***  
  
Squawking and hopping to a higher branch when startled by the pops of Apparition, Andrea knew the time had come. The moon had nearly reached its zenith in the sky and not a moment would be wasted now. Nick Hasgo, Miranda Priestly, their twin daughters, and a few associates were in the first group of arrivals. Andrea could see the wonder turning into fear in the twins’ blue eyes and she had to fight the urge to swoop down and peck at Hasgo’s eyes. It would be insufficient. She might only get one punch, so it had better be well-timed. Miranda’s posture was rigid with tension and she kept as close as she could to her daughters as the others began to arrange the necessary details for the branding ceremony.  
  
Pairs, trios, and even some groups of five began popping into existence just outside of the area where Hasgo had begun to set up. Clearly the Merchants had been here before and planned how they would arrive. Andrea hopped about checking on the increasing numbers of the M.O.C. and where they were positioning themselves. There was no sign of the Aurors, nor any others not directly part of the upcoming ceremony. So it was hardly a consolation that none of them took up defensive posts—so far there truly were no threats to their security.  
  
Hasgo stood as close to the waterfall as he could get without being waist deep in the pool below. Andrea perched on the branch furthest out over the waterfall. She knew that Miranda would not let her daughters take the mark of loyalty. It became a question of whether or not they would be indoctrinated first or last. Andrea wondered what the white haired woman’s plan for the twins included if she met her demise. She might not have known the woman for a long time, but she recognized the long-term schemer from the news articles about her Muggle alter ego. Death would not stop her from protecting her children.  
  
“We have fought in secrecy for long enough.” Nick Hasgo’s voice rang out in the moonlit area. “Now it is time to pledge loyalty, increase our power, and smash the Ministry to its roots.”  
  
Andrea tilted her head this way and that as she surveyed the people below her and calculated the angles. The previous evening’s success had relied far too much on luck. For now she had to hope that her training and instincts would kick in when her confidence shorted out once again.  
  
“Come forward young ones.” He called out to the uninitiated in the group. “Join my daughters on the forefront of this revolution.” Some of the children turned to their parents for guidance as he continued to address them, “Pledge your loyalty to the King. Become Merchants of Chaos.” His voice echoed out around them in the moonlit night.  
  
Andrea watched as the parents encouraged their youngsters toward the waterfall and one of Miranda’s guardians from the rooftop physically moved her away. Taking his daughter’s hands in his own, the King of Chaos held their arms up for them to receive his mark of loyalty. Andrea didn’t know if he instructed them or spelled them to keep their hands raised, but they did. Hasgo raised his wand high and Andrea shifted as she jumped from her branch above.  
  
Hasgo’s wand snapped against her body, but Andrea hit her head on the rock as they fell. Dazed, she watched as the Merchants of Chaos advanced to attack her and rescue their downed King. Andrea watched in slow motion as Miranda lunged forward throwing a curse against the crowd of Nick’s supporters.  
  
Breathing hard, Andrea pushed herself up. She barely had a chance to take in her surroundings, before Nick reached for her wand and the fight began in earnest. Struggling for dominance, Andrea pulled Nick with her into the deep water of the pool and prepared to hold her breath. Hugging the writhing man, the foolhardy young woman pulled him into the black water. He began to turn her in the death roll of an alligator, and then he suddenly stopped. Andrea broke the surface wheezing and frantically searched for her opponent.  
  
A green curse flew overhead and Andrea turned to track its path. Miranda was hit square in the chest and fell back from the impact. Frantically, Andrea sought the twins’ location. Just as she found their shocked faces, they popped out of existence with their jaws wide in horror. Knowing she could not track them, Andrea reached for Hasgo in the water. He had begun floating and she dragged him up the smooth rock at the edge of the pool. Spellfire rang out all around her, but Andrea focused on the unconscious man at the root of all the chaos. Checking him for life signs, the brunette slowly bound his hands and feet. Then for added security she conjured chains in the rock to ward off supporters who might try to revive him.  
  
Ducking spells and throwing her own hexes, Andrea made her way over to the fallen woman who had captured her heart and mind so completely in recent weeks. The twins’ departure probably had been spelled to occur in the event their mother became unable to help them. Not daring to hope for Miranda’s survival, Andrea felt compelled to check. It would break her heart, but she wouldn’t let anyone harm her any more.  
  
Dropping to her knees, Andrea ignored the battle around her. She smoothed Miranda’s hair back from her face and bent to kiss still warm lips. Unwilling to let go, Andrea began a crude version of CPR based on her fractured memories of long ago trainings and scenes from movies. Compressing the woman’s lungs and then breathing into them, Andrea kept a litany going of swears and pleas.  
  
Miranda’s stuttered inhalation as her heart returned to rhythm shattered Andrea’s control.  
  
*** *** ***  
  
Weeping into the fabric covering Miranda’s chest, Andrea barely noticed the world around her. Only the facts that Miranda continued to breathe on her own and the twins were somewhere else mattered to her at that point. Around them and over them the Aurors and the handful of Minutemen who could make it fought the Merchants of Chaos. With their king out of commission and many needing to protect their children, the M.O.C. clearly needed to end the fight as soon as possible.  
  
Miranda hurt everywhere. She knew she had been hit with a powerful stunner, but she wasn’t sure what Andrea had done to bring her back. “The girls.” She managed to pant out as she reached up to pat Andrea awkwardly.  
  
Needing to respond, Andrea shifted mental gears and wound down her tears. “When you went down, they disappeared.” With one hand on Miranda’s stomach and the other on the cold rock below them, Andrea searched Miranda’s face for answers. “What did you do?” Andrea breathed deeply in order to force air into her lungs and in an effort to slow her racing heart.  
  
“Portkey stitched into their clothes—” With a wide-eyed murmur Miranda grabbed at Andrea’s wand resting on her stomach. Forcing herself to reach up, she fired a hex over Andrea’s shoulder that sent the woman to the ground. “You have to secure her. It was only a Petrificus and a poorly cast one at that.”  
  
Andrea did not want to move, but the reality of the fight still going on around them intruded. She did not want to be attacked, nor did she wish to risk Miranda incurring any further injuries. “Summon your wand.” Andrea ordered as she moved away to bind the downed witch.  
  
After securing another prisoner, Andrea returned to Miranda’s side. The woman still moved slower than usual, but she clearly could hold her own in a duel. Forming a fighting duo similar to many Andrea had done in school, they continued to take on anyone coming in their direction.  
  
“Are those Aurors?” Miranda half turned to her companion. When Andrea grunted her response and pulled Miranda to side step a spell, she shook her head. “I can’t believe you brought the Ministry. I thought your group would never work with them.”  
  
Shrugging, Andrea volleyed back, “Since I’m not part of that group, but more of a free agent, I could call on any help that was deemed necessary.” After only another few minutes of fighting, Andrea saw Patrick and Heidi discussing the prisoners with the Aurors. She tugged Miranda by the hand to join them.  
  
At first the Aurors raised their wands at the older woman. Heidi stepped to join Andrea at Miranda’s side. “Miranda Priestly was Nick Hasgo’s first prisoner. She’s no enemy combatant.” With raised eyebrows, the Ministry Officials lowered their wands and post fight conversations and planning began.

 

x


	9. Nine

_**Defying Chaos. Part 9/10.**_  
  
Dead on her feet, Andrea watched as Miranda finished talking with the Aurors. Patrick and Heidi left after checking that she was unharmed. They promised to check on Veronica and update Benny. Prisoners had been transported under heavy guard to cells within the Ministry, while injuries were tended to on the spot by healers brought in just for the evening. There would not be any chance for the Merchants of Chaos to run amok in the hospital and escape custody.  
  
“All finished?” Andrea smiled tiredly as Miranda approached her.  
  
Tilting her head and then shrugging slightly, the older woman agreed, “For now at least.” Linking arms with the brunette, Miranda continued to the far edge of the battle scarred area. “I will have to go back for a more complete debriefing later this week.”  
  
Patting Miranda’s arm, Andrea observed. “I couldn’t believe it when Heidi vouched for you and the Aurors backed down.”  
  
Adjusting their pose, Miranda turned to face her companion. “Formidable woman.” Smiling, Miranda thought of her old school friend. “She has never lost a fight.”  
  
Answering the smile with a grin of her own, Andrea chuckled. “You know everyone.”  
  
With a tap to Andrea’s nose, the older woman tutted. “Nonsense.” For long moments she stared at the brunette’s features caught the full moon’s light. Then she gathered her thoughts and continued speaking. “Will you go with me to get the girls?” The question came out in a low whisper.  
  
“Of course, Miranda. I don’t want to be apart from you and I want to see that they are okay. It was scary for them to disappear when you went down.” Andrea felt her heart flip flop as Miranda’s expression lost its heartbreaking vulnerability as she spoke.  
  
“Hang on.” Miranda commanded before willing the pull of Apparition to take them.  
  
*** *** ***  
  
Examining the mundane stairwell landing they had appeared in, Andrea double-checked her companion. She wasn’t sure what she had expected, yet she was certain it wasn’t a cold stairwell. “You did not hide them in some sort of broom closet, did you?”  
  
Pulling the younger woman by the hand, Miranda pushed open the door to the tenth floor hallway of a rather impressive apartment building. “Are you always this funny?” The words were delivered in a dry tone that could have hurt, but her smirk when she turned to face Andrea over softened the harsh edges. “My, my. This won’t do. We are frightful.” With an abrupt about face, Andrea found herself back in the stairwell. “Right then, cleansing, healing, face, and hair. I’m not sure what we can do about our clothes.”  
  
Andrea sputtered at first as Miranda whipped her wand casting nearly silent spells to tend to the disarray and injuries. It took her a few moments to catch up, but then she busied herself with her own set of spells. Once they were as finished as they could get, Andrea pulled back before she opened the door. “I’m sure I don’t have anything as stylish as you do, but coats would not seem out of place in this weather. So allow me.” With a few quick wand flicks, Andrea had transfigured each of her socks into jackets that would at least get them down the hallway.  
  
Slipping into her new coat, Miranda tugged it tight around her body. “Marvelous.” She intoned as she leaned forward to claim a simple kiss from Andrea’s lips.  
  
*** *** ***  
  
Curled up together on the couch, the twins shifted in and out of wakefulness. Unwanted, sleep still proved difficult to fend off. The knock at the door spooked them into full alertness, though they simply clung to each other instead of jumping up. Their host tutted his assurances as he crossed the room to the door, though he had his wand at the ready.  
  
“Miranda.” His gasp of surprise quickly faded as the girls squealed and fell over each other in an effort to mob their mother.  
  
Arms out wide for both of her girls, Miranda effortlessly moved them into the room so that she and Andrea could slip out of the hallway. “My darlings.” No further words were necessary as they hugged each other, nuzzled against their mother, and basked in their togetherness.  
  
On either side of this jubilant reunion were Andrea and their host could barely contain their suspicions. Neither could say for certain where they had seen the other, but both were suspicious of the other’s motivation and presence. It was miniscule detail, and a huge comfort, that Miranda did not concern herself with either of them. So they kept their wands down.  
  
“She’s the one who blocked father.” Caroline enthused as she patted her sister’s shoulder.  
  
“What was he trying to do, mom?” Cassidy’s question cut straight to the heart of the matter.  
  
Quickly glancing at both of her adult companions, Miranda led the way into the living room. “Nigel Kipling, my right hand man at Runway.” Miranda made introductions over her shoulder as she continued toward the couch. “This is Andrea Sachs, recently returned from studying abroad and pulled into the fight against chaos.” The remarks mostly went over the twins’ heads; however, they cleared up many points for the other two adults.  
  
“Can I take your coat?” Nigel offered as they followed the trio of Priestlys.  
  
“No need to.” Andrea giggled and with a swish and flick over herself and Miranda, she summoned both socks into her hand. “They were just a last second cover up to get here.” Banishing the socks with a flourish, Andrea sought out a seat.  
  
“Firewhiskey then?” The bald man blithely offered, before bustling off to the kitchen.  
  
Miranda settled her girls on one end of the couch and breathed deeply. “Your father was a remarkable man when I met him and an amazing artist. I wish that he had stayed that way and our lives had been different.” The twins murmured their assurances that it was okay, they knew she loved them, etc. “In an effort to keep your father’s image untarnished, I have kept many details from you, my darlings.” Miranda clenched her hands into fists on top of her thighs. There was no easy way through this conversation. “Your father became obsessed with dark stories of power and control. He began to question the Ministry, simply for the sake of tearing it apart. He founded a group known as the Merchants of Chaos or M.O.C. and he became their self-styled king.”  
  
Nigel returned with glasses for the adults and then bustled off again to gather hot milk for the twins.  
  
“Chaos has no king.” Caroline thought about the details her mother shared for the first time.  
  
The twin girls shared a quiet conversation, mostly made up of facial gestures, before Cassidy offered, “The Merchants of Chaos would cause chaos rather than sell it. The murders in the papers that people have been speculating on are all connected.”  
  
Caroline picked up the thread of thought in the next breath. “The attacks on Ministry events including the Heads of Six Convention—those were all part of the same unexplained group.”  
  
Uncertain of how to take the processing speed of her girls, Miranda carefully acknowledged their theories. “Yes, a series of murders has been connected to this group.” Glancing from daughter to daughter, Miranda watched for micro expressions that might give their state of mind away. They were earnestly waiting her explanation and revealing nothing. “The attacks and disruptions of Ministry events were also part of this group’s plan to distract and then destroy.”  
  
Turning toward her sister, Caroline used their unique way of communicating through body language, eye contact, and minimal words. When the two of them nodded at each other, Miranda braced herself for what might come next: vehement denial, accusations against her, or a plea to go to their father. Instead, Caroline surprised her by turning to Andrea. “What was your role in this? You’re familiar.”  
  
Cassidy assured her sister, “You’ve seen her in the papers. She’s just back from Europe. She left New York after her father was murdered.” Glancing at her twin and then at her mother, Cassidy added, “Probably by our father or his group.”  
  
Andrea and Miranda each started to respond, but were cut off by Caroline. “No. I mean, yes, she’s been in the paper, but there’s something else. She was at dad’s CD release party.” Turning to face their mother, she accused her. “At the last party, you hexed her off the roof of the Affinia Hotel!”  
  
Andrea vehemently blurted, “She saved my life by doing so!”  
  
The twins turned to each other once more for a rapid fire round of twin-speak. Then Caroline fixed her with a look. “You’re a spy for the Ministry.”  
  
Hiding her amusement, Andrea held her hands palm up. “My father was murdered by James Ferguson, who was part of this Chaos group. When I returned from Europe I was invited to find out more about him and whomever he might be associated with. I used my broken heart over my ex-boyfriend as a cover story for going to Nick Hasgo’s CD Release Party.”  
  
Miranda continued the story when Andrea breathed in a lungful of air. “She tried it again at the Affinia and I confronted her. Chad Xavier suspected her.”  
  
The twins’ jaws dropped for a few seconds. Then Cassidy exclaimed. “Dad’s friend!”  
  
Andrea jumped back in with a nod. “When your mom’s bodyguards came over to confront me, your mom hexed me off the rooftop.”  
  
Cassidy shook her head. “How did you survive—that’s 20 stories high?”  
  
Tilting her head in thought, Caroline resembled her mother in a similar pose. “You fell from the sky tonight.” The words were slow as she mulled them over. “You’re a bird Animagi!”  
  
Andrea nodded and the girls squealed in delight.  
  
From his comfy chair off to the side, Nigel finished his glass of Firewhiskey. “What I want to know is what happened that I suddenly had two teenagers in my living room?” He raised an eyebrow at Miranda. “I might have been entertaining, you know. A bit of notice would have been appreciated.”  
  
Miranda blushed, though she remained silent for several seconds. Just when everyone else was about to open their mouths to prompt her, she began. “I triggered a Portkey to activate and bring them here.” When Nigel leaned forward in his chair to stare fixedly at her, she elaborated. “If I were to be incapacitated or killed, then the Portkey would activate. They didn’t even know, Nigel.” Miranda’s voice dropped to its lowest register as she begged him with her eyes to understand. “You and I have barely spoken outside of Runway for the last decade. I never wanted you to be a part of this.”  
  
Rolling his eyes, Nigel waved her off, “Between Irving and Nick’s various and overlapping paranoias, I can’t believe we were able to keep any kind of connection. Your trust means a lot to me, Miranda.”  
  
Emerging from yet another round of twin-speak, Cassidy wondered, “What was so special about tonight? Why couldn’t you arrest him at his next event or something? Why go all the way to the mountains?”  
  
Knowing there was no way to get around the answer, Miranda tried to be as direct and simple as she could. “Tonight was meant to be an induction ceremony into the Merchants of Chaos. However, it was really camouflage for a loyalty ceremony during the full moon that would activate a dark spell to increase his power dramatically.”  
  
Clearly disgusted by this, Caroline spat out, “How could he do that? We didn’t even know what he was doing. How could we pledge loyalty to him? Ugh.”  
  
With her hand pressing hard into her knee, Cassidy asked about the other children. “Did the other kids know what was going on? Were their parents so blinded that they would sacrifice their children?”  
  
A heavy sigh escaped Miranda’s lips. She reached for one hand of each of her girls. “I am uncertain what the other families may have known about tonight and the situation in general. You were kept in the dark because I wanted you to have as normal of a childhood as possible. That included having a loving father for as long as he was able to perform that duty.”  
  
Caroline glanced at her sister before speaking. “I’m not pleased that he’s going to jail, and I hate that he’s this horrible person.”  
  
Nodding, Cassidy chimed in, “He did the role of father okay for a while, so I guess I’m glad about that.”  
  
Miranda fought the tears welling in her eyes. “Girls, my darlings, it would be weird if you didn’t have some confusion and conflicted feelings about all of this.” When they gave her crooked smiles in return for her candid remarks, she finished. “You will no doubt have more questions for me and I will speak with you when they come up. I think we all have some processing to do and a counselor might support us through this craziness.”  
  
Groaning, the girls whined. “You mean the press on the Muggle side of this situation as well.”  
  
Letting her fatigue show in her eyes, Miranda turned to friend, “It’s nearly dawn, Nigel, dear. Can we impose upon you for some sleep before we tackle whatever tomorrow brings?”  
  
Nigel stood and gave a wobbly bow. “My house is your house.” As he passed his long time friend, he whispered, “There are only two guest rooms, whatever will you do?” He didn’t have to see her face to know she had blushed.

 

x


	10. Ten

_**Defying Chaos. Part 10/10.**_  
  
Andrea watched as Miranda ushered the twins down the hall to a guest room. From their comfort it was evident they had been here before. Andrea scratched her brow as she considered that observation against the conversational pieces she had been able to pick up from Miranda and Nigel. They hadn’t spoken much outside of working together at Runway in the last ten years or so. Her heart yearned for that kind of comfort with an old friend, even after a separation. It took a special kind of connection to retain the same feel of connection and safety with someone. At one time she would have included Lily and Doug as people held in that regard. Their ties of friendship were forcefully cut when Lily began a relationship with Nate before Andrea had ended it with him. Doug had simply chosen to pursue the companionship of others more in line with his current life and without the surrounding painful drama. He let his closeness fade to a peaceful nothing instead of choosing sides or constantly being pulled between them.  
  
Andrea flopped down on the couch as she suddenly realized her predicament. It was full daylight, yet she needed sleep and had no interest leaving Miranda. Patting the couch cushions on either side of her, the brunette pondered the breach of etiquette it could potentially be if she transfigured Nigel’s couch into a single bed. She’d put it to rights after some sleep with no ill effects, but she didn’t think it was something that was done.  
  
Down the hall, Miranda spoke to the girls as they readied for bed and left what had to be a bathroom and went into the guestroom. Smiling wide, Andrea knew that it had been the right decision to go after the Merchants of Chaos before they could destroy Miranda’s girls, or the other children. She wondered if Nick Hasgo would ever fully understand just how far off course he had run, not only with his rhetoric, but also with losing the love of a wonderful woman and any real connection with his daughters.  
  
*** *** ***  
  
The girls had protested, but curled up together in the guest bed in transfigured pajamas. After singing one of their favorite ballads, Miranda paused and listened to their sleep steady breathing. Extinguishing the remaining lights, she had left them with a murmured good night.  
  
Stepping out into the hall, Miranda turned on the light in the other guest room. As with the rest of Nigel’s home, it was elegantly decorated. However, she smirked as she thought of how terribly cliché some of his decorations were with regard to male Wizarding stereotypes. Some details were so subtle that they could be chalked up to personal preference. Other decorative features, such as the magical painting over the bed, were so obvious that they were laughable. Those she wondered if he had done on purpose in a fit of ‘take that hierarchy, I’m the person least likely for these and yet here they are in my home.’ The selections taken together created a sublime commentary of what it meant to be a straight Wizard, or perhaps a straight male Wizard.  
  
Glancing at the large empty bed in the center of the room, Miranda spun on her heel.  
  
“What are you doing out here?” Miranda murmured as she reached for Andrea’s hand and pulled her to her feet.  
  
“Didn’t want to leave you.” Andrea blushed as she kept her eyes on Miranda’s blue ones.  
  
“That thrills me.” The older woman tugged Andrea with her as she started off down the hall. “It feels right to have you here with me.” Miranda murmured as she turned to Andrea next to the bed.  
  
Andrea leaned her body forward until she stepped into Miranda and crushed their lips together. For several minutes they lost themselves in the sensations of lips, tongues, and teeth. When hands began to pull at fabric and whimpers became audible, Andrea murmured. “This feels right.”  
  
Giving up on words, Miranda pulled the covers back and slipped out of what remained of her clothes. “I want to feel your skin against mine tonight, Andrea.”  
  
Driven by her new purpose, Andrea shed her garments and followed Miranda between the covers. With a murmured Nox, the brunette tucked herself against her companion.  
  
*** *** ***  
  
Several hours later, the young brunette stretched into wakefulness. Immediately smiling, she opened brown eyes and soaked in the vision of the white haired woman barely covered by a white sheet against curves that slowly moved with her breathing. Feeling where their skin touched beneath the fabric, Andrea smiled and leaned down to kiss the bare shoulder in front of her lips.  
  
Miranda let out a sleepy hum of pleasure and leaned back against her companion. As consciousness slowly crept upon her, the older woman tensed and barely controlled her impulse to pull away.  
  
“You’re so beautiful.” Andrea’s murmur was muffled against soft skin. “When I first woke up, I wasn’t sure this would be real.” Gently she coaxed Miranda to turn and face her.  
  
Reaching up with trembling fingers, Miranda traced the contours of Andrea’s face. Her blue eyes were wide with a mixture of feelings all bubbling to be expressed. “I want to say that I feel free.” She pulled her fingertips down and against the warmth of her chest. When Andrea’s brow furrowed in confusion, she explained. “I don’t want this to be false hope again.”  
  
Tumbling over details, she had mostly guessed about her companion, Andrea offered, “How about I do everything I can to make sure there’s nothing false here?” Pulling Miranda’s hand to her own chest, Andrea waited until she saw a wavering smile from Miranda. “Do you want to talk about it?”  
  
Pulling her body close to Andrea’s the way they fell asleep the night before, Miranda breathed in their combined scents. “I did try to leave on more than one occasion. A few times I even thought that I had managed it completely, but Nick would always turn up. Eventually I gave up on the idea of getting away from him and focused on creating a life I could be proud of and protecting the girls from him as much as I could.”  
  
Shifting so that her arms could wrap fully around Miranda, the brunette nuzzled against the white hair and waited for her lover to continue.  
  
“I had manipulated him enough that he thought it was his idea to keep the details of his activities away from the girls. I told him that they worshipped him and he should only reveal his aspirations when he could be certain of reaching his goals. It was true enough, the girls did worship him—he was a rock and roll celebrity. He had me enthralled for a long time. I just hoped that he would never be close enough to really take action, or that the girls would get old enough to figure it out on their own.” Miranda sighed against Andrea’s chest as she took comfort in their embrace.  
  
“What if they had been drawn in by the rhetoric?” Andrea wondered.  
  
Closing her eyes at that horrible observation, Miranda admitted. “I can’t count how many nights I lay awake worrying over that one. They know every lyric to every song he wrote. They are fascinated by the whole punk concept and along with every teenager they want to fight against the system.”  
  
Squeezing Miranda in her arms, Andrea shifted her legs to balance. The delicious friction sent a surge of arousal through her. “Normal teenage angst wasn’t enough to worry about.” She tried to speak as evenly as she could, since she was being supportive, but it was hard to not notice their entwined and thoroughly naked state.  
  
“Nothing is easy in my life.” Miranda shifted to rise up on her elbow and let her eyes travel over her bedmate’s features. Her lips curved into a sultry smile as her leg slipped further between Andrea’s thighs. “You were quite the complication.” Her blue eyes gazed down into Andrea’s soulful brown eyes until she leaned her head close enough that they slipped shut instinctively. The kiss was slow and gentle, with a steady build.  
  
Their hands explored skin previously untouched and desire built until they were writhing against each other. When the bed covers fell in a pile to the floor, they pulled apart breathless and their desire unquenched. “It was only the covers.” Andrea murmured as she felt the cool air of the room on her heated skin.  
  
Sighing at the room around them, Miranda mentally pulled back before she slowly sat up. “The girls and Nigel. We should,” she paused and bit her lip as her eyes settled on the flushed beauty of Andrea naked on the bed. “We should check on them.” She swallowed hard and forced herself to stand instead of return to the slowly building bliss between them.  
  
*** *** ***  
  
“Nigel is your friend, right?” Andrea peered into the closet once again in wonder. “He works with you at Runway?” She reached out and brushed her fingers over the items hanging there.  
  
“Well, he did.” Miranda quietly murmured as she pulled a loose tunic over her head and then grabbed for yoga pants that were quite bewilderingly hanging on a hanger. She needed to have a word with her Art Director about this odious collection.  
  
Giggling, Andrea pulled a white button down from the odd selection and then settled on a boring pair of khaki pants. The items in the wardrobe were of all different sizes, styles, and did not seem to hold to one gender or the other. “Do you think he has costume parties and just lets folks rummage around in here?”  
  
Keen eye roving over the hangers, Miranda pursed her lips. “No doubt each of these has a story attached to it. They all have designer labels, even if they did not become mainstream hits or stand out on the runway. We’ll have to ask him.”  
  
Andrea followed Miranda through the house as she tried to find her girls and their erstwhile host. “Does he have a rooftop garden or anything?” Andrea asked as they continued to come up empty—even after circling back to the master bedroom and finding no Nigel.  
  
Fighting the panic beginning to take shape in the back of her mind, Miranda shook her head in the negative. “Let’s check the kitchen one more time. He knows how I am without coffee.”  
  
Unable to fight her smile, Andrea leaned against the center island as Miranda read the note taped closed over the coffeemaker’s power button.  
  
 _Miranda—  
  
We’ve gone in search of sustenance.  
When you and Andrea are ready, join us at your townhouse.  
I have almost as many questions as the twins do…  
  
—Nigel_  
  
Extending her hand with the note in it, Miranda focused on the coffee machine. The blush that creeped up her neck and pinked the tops of her ears, let Andrea in on some of the contents of the note. Reading the parchment, Andrea set it aside as she watched Miranda’s body move in the loose fitting yoga pants. Barely suppressing a moan at the remembered knowledge that neither of them had on knickers, Andrea wondered how long the coffee in the morning moratorium lasted or if it could be distracted with fingertips and lips.  
  
“What is in that pretty little head of yours?” Miranda let her eyes trail up and down Andrea’s outfit as she leaned against the opposite counter to face her younger lover.  
  
Seeing Miranda’s eyes darken as she raked her eyes over her, Andrea smirked and stepped closer. Undoing the three hastily done buttons, Andrea smiled as she approached. Letting her hands brush the fabric of the button down open as she rested her hands on her hips, the brunette countered, “We do have the place to ourselves.”  
  
Swallowing as she watched the white fabric slide open to reveal the curves of Andrea’s breasts, Miranda pressed herself backward against the counter. The edge of a dark pink nipple teased where the button rested just over a hardening peak. ‘I have more self-control than this,’ she tried to convince herself.  
  
“I wonder what you’re thinking.” Andrea practically whispered as she stepped fully into Miranda’s space and slid her hands under her top to caress bare skin once more. Claiming Miranda’s lips in a kiss, she cut off her ability to reply. Andrea felt her desire rising as Miranda cupped her breasts and kissed back equally as urgent. Her mind raced as her hands searched up and then down. Andrea wondered how she could convince Miranda up onto the countertop, while losing the yoga pants. Her mind blissfully distracted by her fevered planning and the ability to finally touch the person who had drawn her so thoroughly in, Andrea gasped as Miranda’s fingers dipped into her silky wetness and then slid down to explore the opening of her sex. As her body spasmed over the first intimate touch between them, Andrea forced Miranda’s fingers deeper into her. “Oh. Yes. That.”  
  
Practically on tip toes, the brunette felt as if she was levitated on the brink of orgasm for many splendidly awful minutes as Miranda’s fingers played her body like a fine instrument and her teeth and tongue teased over the pulse point of her neck. One hand pressed hard into the countertop behind Miranda, the brunette shook and shivered as her pleasure built and built on itself. Her other hand stroked delicious distraction along Miranda’s side. Watching Andrea’s face react with wonder, acute pleasure, and even tantalizing despair Miranda felt her desire pool between her legs. Pressing her fingertips into Andrea’s back was the only thing that kept her from reaching for her own pleasure. She knew if Andrea’s stance had enabled her to, then she would have been riding Andrea’s thigh as if she were a randy teenaged girl.  
  
With a shout of her name, Andrea’s body stiffened for several long seconds before waves of pleasure caused her body to shake against her fingers. Miranda slipped out from her wet heat and held the pads of her fingers steady against the still throbbing bundle of nerves at the apex of her thighs. Through the aftershocks, Andrea murmured nonsense and held onto Miranda.  
  
Breathing approaching normal, the brunette smiled with dazed eyes at her lover. “Great minds.” She kissed Miranda and then proceeded to tease down her body, taking those yoga pants down with her. “Must have you.” Andrea murmured as she leaned forward to trail her tongue in Miranda’s desire for many long moments until she could engage her brain enough to trail her hands back up Miranda’s body. One set of questing fingers took the place of her tongue, first exploring and then stretching Miranda’s sex as more were added. The other hand reached up until a rosy peak was pressed between two fingers and the palm cupped the breast in a snug embrace.  
  
“Fill me, Andrea.” Miranda moaned as she tangled her fingers in dark brown tresses.  
  
*** *** ***  
  
Pulled apart by hunger, the couple Apparated into the Priestly townhouse just before 7pm. The twins chattered at them in a whirlwind of information that they would have to review over the course of the next several days. Dinner was a noisy affair punctuated by the feeling of family as the trio was joined by Nigel and Andrea. The most difficult conversation had already passed by them and the newspapers had filled in many of the blanks Miranda had left. Nigel would catch Miranda’s eye from time to time. Though he remained silent—Miranda blushed all the same. That night when the twins were tucked in and Nigel had been safely returned home, Andrea asked, “Is Nigel a Legilimens?”  
  
Chuckling, Miranda had pressed her naked body against her lover’s skin. “No, but I am.”  
  
Rotating her hips back against Miranda, the brunette giggled back. “That’s why you kept blushing.”  
  
Ignoring this in favor of more interesting pursuits, Miranda kissed the back of Andrea’s neck. Miranda’s hand wandered up to cup and squeeze her lover’s breast as their bodies continued to move. “What will I find in your mind, hmm?”  
  
Reaching back with her hand, Andrea tried to slip between Miranda’s thighs. “At this point, you’d only find thoughts of you.”  
  
Trapping Andrea’s hand between her legs, Miranda growled, “And what you want to do with me.” Whimpering as images were projected into her mind, Andrea willed her hand free, so that she could begin to act them out. It didn’t matter if they were Miranda’s thoughts or her own at that point.  
  
  
 __ **Fin.**  
  
x


End file.
